1.
Basic Social Math
Beyond Statistics — Testing Paradigms Against Empirical Evidence
© 2012 By Jared Lee Hanson
Presented on 26 June 2012 at the Beijing INFORMS International Meeting

2.
Losing the Power
of Abstraction
Why don’t our calculations
generalize across social contexts
of operation?
Assumptive vs Theoretic
Generalization (Meredith, 1998)

3.
Quantitative vs Qualitative
• OR/MS Identity Crisis: Bipolar Disorder?
• The role of the observer in calculating meaning
• Subjectivity from social constructions & cultural bias

4.
Problem of Language

5.
How do we re-establish objectivity
in our computations?

6.
Problem of
Paradigms
What questions do we ask
to do epicycle
calculations?
What questions do we ask
to do statistical
calculations?
• Adding Epicycles & Model Complexity

7.
Are We Asking
Questions That
Lead to
Innovation?
• Do Planets
Actually Move
Through Space in
This Way?

8.
Establishing
Direct
Correspondence
to Empirical
Evidence
• Ending the Rigor vs
Relevance Debate
“Decision making is a fundamental particle of management” (Noonan, 2007)
(Gulati, 2007) http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/06/12090848-your-views-and-videos-of-venus?lite

9.
Anchoring on
Empirics
“Lack of empirics in the modeling
culture is an unaddressed issue”
(Hubbard & Samuelson, 2009)
Achieving New Perspectives
of Observation
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120609.html

10.
Basic Social Math
• Testing Paradigms Against
Empirical Evidence
• Anchoring to Empirical Processes
in order to Frame and Navigate
Complex Problems

11.
References
• Gulati, Ranjay. “Tent Poles, Tribalism, and Boundary Spanning: The Rigor-
Relevance Debate in Management Research.” Academy of Management
Journal, v50 (4) 2007: 775-782.
• Hubbard, Douglas, and Douglas A. Samuelson. “Modeling Without
Measurements.” ORMS Today, v36 (5) 2009: 26.
• Meredith, Jack. “Building Operations Management Theory Through Case
and Field Research.” Journal of Operations Management, v16, 1998: 441-454.
• Noonan, Patrick S. "Designing, Selling a Hybrid Course." ORMS Today, v34
(4) 2007: 10.