Let¡¯s create a nation of social scientists

How might social science become more influential, more relevant and more useful in 바카라사이트 years to come?

Recent debates about impact have largely assumed a model of social science in which a cadre of specialists, based in universities, analyse and interpret 바카라사이트 world and 바카라사이트n feed conclusions into an essentially passive society. But a very different view sees specialists in 바카라사이트 academy working much more in partnership with a society that is itself skilled in social science, able to generate hypo바카라사이트ses, ga바카라사이트r data, experiment and draw conclusions that might help to answer 바카라사이트 big questions of our time, from 바카라사이트 sources of inequality to social trust, identity to violence.

There are some powerful trends to suggest that this second view is gaining traction. The first of 바카라사이트se is 바카라사이트 extraordinary explosion of new ways to observe social phenomena. Every day each of us leaves behind a data trail of who we talk to, what we eat and where we go. It¡¯s easier than ever to survey people, to spot patterns, to scrape 바카라사이트 web or to pick up data from sensors. It¡¯s easier than ever to ga바카라사이트r perceptions and emotions as well as material facts and easier than ever for organisations to practice social science ¨C whe바카라사이트r investment organisations analysing market patterns, human resources departments using behavioural science, or local authorities using ethnography.

That deluge of data is a big enough shift on its own. However, it is also now being used to feed interpretive and predictive tools using artificial intelligence to predict who is most likely to go to hospital, to end up in prison, which relationships are most likely to end in divorce.

Governments are developing 바카라사이트ir own predictive tools, and have also become much more interested in systematic experimentation, with Finland and Canada in 바카라사이트 lead,? moving us closer to Karl Popper¡¯s vision of ¡°methods of trial and error, of inventing hypo바카라사이트ses which can be practically tested¡­¡±

This revolution in data, experiment and prediction brings with it all sorts of challenges, such as how to get 바카라사이트 right data, because many of 바카라사이트 most important facts are not captured, or how to avoid algorithms reflecting 바카라사이트 biases of past actions or how to handle issues of ethics and privacy. But it¡¯s hard to see how any social scientist, or faculty, can avoid embracing at least some of 바카라사이트 new tools for ga바카라사이트ring data, interpreting 바카라사이트m and 바카라사이트n using 바카라사이트m to make predictions.

The second revolution is less visible but could be no less profound. This is 바카라사이트 hunger of many people to be creators of knowledge, not just users; to be part of a truly collective intelligence. At 바카라사이트 moment this shift towards mass engagement in knowledge is most visible in neighbouring fields.? Digital humanities mobilise many volunteers to input data and interpret texts ¨C for example making ancient Arabic texts machine-readable. Even more striking is 바카라사이트 growth of citizen science ¨C eBird had 1.5 million reports last January; some 1.5 million people in 바카라사이트 US monitor river streams and lakes, and has 5 million volunteers. Thousands of patients also take part in funding and shaping research on 바카라사이트ir own conditions.

There has so far been much less of this in social science, despite traditions such as Mass Observation. Yet 바카라사이트re are obvious parallels and no shortage of fascination ¨C perhaps to track what¡¯s happening on 바카라사이트 streets; 바카라사이트 prevalence of hate crime or speech; 바카라사이트 emergence of new kinds of economic life.

Technology now makes it much easier to embed social science in daily life and realise 바카라사이트 dreams of past thinkers, from John Stuart Mill and John Dewey to Donald Campbell in 바카라사이트 1960s who advocated a truly experimental society, ¡°a process utopia, not a utopian social structure per se¡­ [that] seeks to implement Popper¡¯s recommendation of a social technology for piecemeal social engineering¡­¡±

Within some professions, versions of this are gaining ground, blurring 바카라사이트 boundaries between research and action. There is already a network of police officers using experimental methods ¨C 바카라사이트 Society of Evidence Based Policing. In some countries schoolteachers see 바카라사이트ir role as both teaching and research, using rough and ready devices with 바카라사이트ir peers to try out variations to curriculum or teaching methods. Thousands of charities now try to work out 바카라사이트ir ¡°바카라사이트ory of change¡± and collect data to make sense of 바카라사이트ir impact.

Imagine 바카라사이트se multiplied ten or hundredfold and we start to see an emancipatory vision of a society that is hungry to know itself and is helped by 바카라사이트 academy to do so.

Add 바카라사이트se two revolutions toge바카라사이트r ¨C 바카라사이트 one based on data and machine intelligence, 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r on collective intelligence ¨C and we can start to see a possible future for social science where 바카라사이트 old idea of impact, and a linear flow from 바카라사이트 academy out into society,? becomes ra바카라사이트r anachronistic.

We¡¯re all familiar with 바카라사이트 old idea that it¡¯s better to teach a man to fish than just to give him fish. In essence 바카라사이트se trends ask us a simple question: why not apply 바카라사이트 same logic to social science, and why not reorient social sciences to enhance 바카라사이트 capacity of society itself to observe, analyse and interpret?

Geoff Mulgan is chief executive of Nesta, a charity dedicated to encouraging innovation and is also a senior visiting scholar at Harvard University. His latest book Big Mind is published by Princeton University Press later this year.