The merits of modelling within a logical, as opposed to Bayesian, framework is discussed. It is claimed that a logical formalism is more appropriate for modelling qualitative decisions and that this framework makes the unfolding of process more apparent. This difference in approach leads to...

Wider issues of the validation of computational models - ascertaining that they are sound and consistent relative to some logical formalism and/or substantive theory - have not been a subject of the management science literature. In this paper, we demonstrate that computational models can be...

The paper investigates what is meant by "good science" and "bad science" and how these differ as between the natural (physical and biological) sciences on the one hand and social sciences on the other. We conclude on the basis of historical evidence that the natural science are much more heavily...

We distinguish between two main types of model: predictive and explanatory. It is argued (in the absence of models that predict on unseen data) that in order for a model to increase our understanding of the target system the model must credibly represent the structure of that system, including...

Agents that act as information brokers in large distributed systems (such as the internet) lower the cost of obtaining information. Agents have direct access to only a small part of such systems at any one time. This paper investigates the conditions in which agents successfully go through other...

In many markets, customer preferences depend on the activity of the customer. The authors have previously demonstrated a model that allows the testing of the qualitative judgments of domain experts in spirits markets against relevant EPOS price and sales data. This paper extends the use of...