Knowledge-based Systems: Another Data Approach for Social Scientists?

Social science data are mainly understood as rectangular case-by-variable data sets that will be analyzed statistically on the basis of an individual epistemology. On the other hand, interpretation methods focus on single cases that are treated as typical examples. Knowledge-based systems are suited for processing expert strategies together with real-world facts. Thus we find suggestions for expert systems not only for social decision support and methodological advice but also for integration of theoretical research results, explanation of nonmeasured causal factors, and selection and interpretation of individual or composite cases. An example of the latter is Akcess, a system that analyzes bibliographic data on the social science community by means of network knowledge. Keywords: knowledge-based systems, expert systems, social research, data analysis, hermeneutics.