The answer is never automatically "use #machinelearning" or "build a model," but rather "what does this phenomenon demand?" Implementation here isn’t mechanical coding but #theoretical translation.

What aspects of #socialreality are we investigating? What theoretical traditions inform our understanding? What mechanisms or processes require explanation? CSS refuses #methodologicalimperialism.

It begins by deeply engaging with the #socialphenomenon through existing theory, #qualitative understanding, and domain expertise. This is not merely "defining variables" but establishing epistemological commitments.

CSS is not “synonymous” with #quantitativesocialscience. It represents a fundamental reimagining of social inquiry and rejects “the importation of #computerscience methods as ready-made solutions.” Instead, it develops methods at the #intersection of computational capability and social theory.

While #traditional quantitative approaches apply statistical inference techniques to #socialdata through hypothesis testing and modeling. #ComputationalSocialScience develops #computationalmethods as #socialtheory itself.

CSS India is started by three graduate students from IIT Jodhpur to emerge as a discussion space in the country for this field and provide #consultancy services in the areas of research advisory, data and evidence-based decision making, capacity building, strategy & programme design.

#ComputationalSocialScience is an emerging interdisciplinary field which involves the development & applications of computational methods to complex, typically large, human (sometimes simulated) behavioural data.