Harmonising Theory and Empirics: The THEMP Approach for Developing, Testing and Exploring Social Simulation Models

This paper details an approach for explicitly integrating theoretical and empirical elements in the development and testing of agent-based social simulations for theory development. With empirically calibrated or data-driven agent-based models (ABMs) increasingly becoming the standard, discussions often dichotomise between empirical and theoretical approaches. We argue that many social simulation modellers inherently combine theory and empirics without a language to articulate this synergy. This paper outlines an approach that explicitly integrates theory and empirics during the process of ABM development and testing to support theorising. It illustrates the approach through an example ABM that investigates the role of norms and risk in addressing collective social dilemmas.