Development Of An Integrated Modeling Framework (Imf) To Model Social Systems

Abstract

A social system is the people in a society organized by similar patterns of behavior. The goal of a human social system is to produce people and institutions that perform optimally with a sustainable future. Current economic, health, education and institutional outcomes indicate that this goal is not being met. Given the complexity of the underlying social system, it has been difficult for social scientists to correctly develop successful interventions though the life course and ecological models found in the social sciences that have helped define the problem in a phase. As their complexity has increased, methodologies from other disciplines have begun to be incorporated into the modeling of these social systems. Some examples are agent based modeling and the use of social simulations. System engineers are usually tasked with unraveling complexities with the development of large systems using techniques in their field. This dissertation introduces a framework that integrates systems engineering methodology with sociological research concepts for studying social phenomena. Integrating systems engineering development technology with the research and development of social systems provides a way for the same disciplined approach used in producing zero-defect software to be used to develop models of social systems.