Table Of ContentTranslational Systems Sciences 10
Mary C. Edson
Pamela Buckle Henning
Shankar Sankaran E ditors
A Guide to
Systems
Research
Philosophy, Processes and Practice
Translational Systems Sciences
Volume 10
Editors in Chief
Kyoichi Kijima, Tokyo, Japan
Hiroshi Deguchi, Yokohama, Japan
Editorial Board
Shingo Takahashi, Tokyo, Japan
Hajime Kita, Kyoto, Japan
Toshiyuki Kaneda, Nagoya, Japan
Akira Tokuyasu, Tokyo, Japan
Koichiro Hioki, Tottori, Japan
Yuji Aruka, Tokyo, Japan
Kenneth Bausch, Riverdale, GA, USA
Jim Spohrer, San Jose, CA, USA
Wolfgang Hofkirchner, Vienna, Austria
John Pourdehnad, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Mike C. Jackson, Hull, UK
Gary S. Metcalf, GA, USA
In 1956, Kenneth Boulding explained the concept of General Systems Theory as a skeleton of
science. He described hopes to develop a “spectrum of theories–a system of systems” which
may perform the function of a “gestalt” in theoretical construction. Such “gestalts” in special
fields have been of great value in directing research towards the gaps which they reveal”.
There were, at that time, other important conceptual frameworks and theories, such as
cybernetics. Additional theories and applications developed later, including synergetics, cog-
nitive science, complex adaptive systems, and many others. Some focused on principles
within specific domains of knowledge and others crossed areas of knowledge and practice,
along the spectrum described by Boulding.
Also in 1956, the Society for General Systems Research (now the International Society
for the Systems Sciences) was founded. One of the concerns of the founders, even then, was
the state of the human condition, and what science could do about it.
The present Translational Systems Sciences book series aims at cultivating a new frontier
of systems sciences for contributing to the need for practical applications that benefit people.
The concept of translational research originally comes from medical science for enhancing
human health and well-being. Translational medical research is often labeled as “Bench to
Bedside.” It places emphasis on translating the findings in basic research (at bench) more
quickly and efficiently into medical practice (at bedside). At the same time, needs and demands
from practice drive the development of new and innovative ideas and concepts. In this tightly
coupled process it is essential to remove barriers to multi-disciplinary collaboration.
The present series attempts to bridge and integrate basic research founded in systems
concepts, logic, theories and models with systems practices and methodologies, into a pro-
cess of systems research. Since both bench and bedside involve diverse stakeholder groups,
including researchers, practitioners and users, translational systems science works to create
common platforms for language to activate the “bench to bedside” cycle.
In order to create a resilient and sustainable society in the twenty-first century, we unques-
tionably need open social innovation through which we create new social values, and realize
them in society by connecting diverse ideas and developing new solutions. We assume three
types of social values, namely: (1) values relevant to social infrastructure such as safety,
security, and amenity; (2) values created by innovation in business, economics, and manage-
ment practices; and, (3) values necessary for community sustainability brought about by
conflict resolution and consensus building.
The series will first approach these social values from a systems science perspective by
drawing on a range of disciplines in trans-disciplinary and cross-cultural ways. They may
include social systems theory, sociology, business administration, management information
science, organization science, computational mathematical organization theory, economics,
evolutionary economics, international political science, jurisprudence, policy science, socio-
information studies, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, complex adaptive systems the-
ory, philosophy of science, and other related disciplines. In addition, this series will promote
translational systems science as a means of scientific research that facilitates the translation
of findings from basic science to practical applications, and vice versa.
We believe that this book series should advance a new frontier in systems sciences by
presenting theoretical and conceptual frameworks, as well as theories for design and applica-
tion, for twenty-first-century socioeconomic systems in a translational and transdisciplinary
context.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11213
Mary C. Edson • Pamela Buckle Henning
Shankar Sankaran
Editors
A Guide to Systems
Research
Philosophy, Processes and Practice
Editors
Mary C. Edson Pamela Buckle Henning
International Federation for Systems Adelphi University
Research Garden City, NY, USA
Vienna, Austria
Shankar Sankaran
University of Technology Sydney
NSW, Australia
ISSN 2197-8832 ISSN 2197-8840 (electronic)
Translational Systems Sciences
ISBN 978-981-10-0262-5 ISBN 978-981-10-0263-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-0263-2
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016949454
© Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2017
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of
the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,
broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information
storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the
editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors
or omissions that may have been made.
Printed on acid-free paper
This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature
The registered company is Springer Science+Business Media Singapore Pte Ltd.
Foreword
We live in a world and at a particular historical moment when the need for thinking
and acting systemically, or holistically, is readily apparent. Unfortunately, as the
need grows, the capacity to think and act systemically appears in decline. Thus, a
book that sets out to enhance systems understandings is to be welcomed. This is
particularly true in relation to research practice which is the primary concern of this
book under the rubric of systems research. In a world where human-induced climate
change exacerbates complexity, uncertainty, and surprise, it would seem to be stra-
tegically unwise not to invest in building systems research capability. Obviously,
one has to appreciate the product to garner investment. This book has contributions
from distinguished researchers with particular experiences and, importantly, differ-
ent perspectives as to what systems research could be taken to be, as well as what it
can become. The reader wishing to make up his and her own mind as to what invest-
ments in system research demand attention will be well-rewarded.
A book that addresses philosophy, processes, and practice presents opportunities
for the experienced as well as the early career researcher; a question pertinent to
both is: “How could my research be enhanced if informed by elements of philoso-
phy, processes, and practice that these authors claim to generate ‘systems research?’”
To address this question, researchers have to escape the constraints of the everyday
use of the word system. As contributors to this volume outline, there is a rich and
varied history of scholarship that underpins any serious engagement with the con-
cept system and thus with systems research. A reader of this book is well advised to
appreciate that system is a noun, which presents certain possibilities and constraints.
There are two main adjectives that derive from the word system, systemic and sys-
tematic, and these have quite different meanings, specifically, one is concerned with
relational dynamics that are mainly circular and recursive (systemic), and the other
is concerned with linear, step-by-step procedures (systematic). Thus the word sys-
tem “holds within it” these two possibilities the systemic/systematic and these in
turn can be descriptors of different, yet ideally related, forms of practice—systemic
practice and/or systematic practice.
v
vi Foreword
The reader will soon become aware that some authors choose to see systems as
entities in the world, worthy of description, modelling, change, and so on, while
others choose to see systems as a conceptual devices which, in the hands of a sys-
temic thinker or practitioner, can be used to change the way situations are under-
stood or transformed. These are very different research/researcher choices but with
awareness and responsibility can be used to good effect to address some of the most
pressing issues of our times.
Applied Systems Thinking in Practice Ray Ison
(ASTiP) Group
The Open University
Milton Keynes, United Kingdom
5th March 2016
Contents
1 Philosophical Foundations of Systems Research .................................... 1
Debora Hammond
2 Systems Research Framework ................................................................. 21
John J. Kineman
3 Problem Structuring and Research Design in Systemic Inquiry .......... 59
Mary C. Edson and Louis Klein
4 Modeling and Simulation ......................................................................... 81
John J. Kineman
5 Taking Action Using Systems Research .................................................. 111
Shankar Sankaran
6 Systems Research Reporting .................................................................... 143
Will Varey
7 Competencies Necessary for Systems Research ..................................... 177
Pamela Buckle Henning
8 Evaluating the Impact of Systems Research ........................................... 199
Mary C. Edson and Gary S. Metcalf
Index ................................................................................................................. 235
vii
Introduction
Pamela Buckle Henning, Mary C. Edson, and Shankar Sankaran
Welcome to A Guide to Systems Research—Philosophy, Processes and Practice. It
is the purpose of an Introduction to launch a reader into a book. But before we direct
you forward, we would like to reflect on how this book came to be.
In the introduction to one of his books, organizational theorist and systems
scholar Ian Mitroff once wrote, “On the one hand, this book was generated out of
the excitement, joy, and love of discovering a new way of thinking. On the other,
it was also written out of the most intense mood of dissatisfaction” (Mitroff, 1983,
p. xix). It could be said that a similar mood of combined enthusiasm and consterna-
tion provoked the genesis of this book on systems research.
In the fall of 2013, the International Federation for Systems Research (IFSR)
requested proposals for the 2014 IFSR Conversation, a biennial meeting of philoso-
phers, theorists, scholars, and practitioners focused on development of specific
streams of thought in the systems sciences. A proposal was submitted for the forma-
tion of the Systems Research Team (SRT) to explore the question, “What distin-
guishes systems research from other types of research and how will we know?”
After the IFSR accepted the proposal, the SRT was formed by the team leader,
meeting several months by teleconference in preparation for the Conversation. In
April 2014, the eight authors of this book gathered in Linz, Austria, intently explor-
ing the topic of systems research. The members of the SRT who developed this book
are seasoned systems researchers, experienced in working to extend and apply sys-
tems theoretical concepts in research ranging from the history of the social sciences
to organizational behavior, from project management to sociology, and from thought
ecologies to the natural sciences. Additionally, all of us came to the Conversation
with startlingly fundamental questions about our work, “What makes research sys-
tems research?” Further, we explored an ensuing cascade of questions, such as:
What are the criteria for high-caliber systems research? What is the value of sys-
temic research in comparison and as complement to other research approaches?
When using systems research, how do we explain our ontological and epistemologi-
cal philosophical underpinnings? In conducting systems research, how are both the
researcher and the researched system changed? We were familiar with the joke that,
ix
x Introduction
“If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, then it must be a duck!” But we agreed
that systems research warranted a clearer definition than that.
Throughout the week of the Conversation, we revisited our early training in aca-
demic research, wondering how rigorous research, broadly speaking, had been
defined for us and taught to us in our various home disciplines. It was not difficult
to recall exemplary research methods books from each of our own fields of study;
there, we could point to books that transcended specific methodological schools of
thought and guided our early research work. But when we turned our attention to the
systems literature, it was more challenging to think of comparable research guides.
Certainly, we knew our field’s foremost texts on many of the specific schools of
thought that comprise the contemporary systems community: there are respected
research guides on methodologies specific to systems dynamics, critical systems
thinking, soft systems methodology, complexity research, systems engineering, sys-
tems design, and many others. But what of the foundational books on how systems
research ought to be conducted regardless of one’s favored methodological
approach? Where were the research method texts that encompassed and transcended
all of those specific schools of systems thought? We began to wonder what such a
text would say that could be useful to researchers of all methodological schools of
systems thought, of any home discipline (whether of the “natural” or “social” sci-
ences). Each day, as the SRT gathered around the table, we began to imagine others
sitting with us—doctoral students and early career researchers, people deeply com-
mitted to systems and “systems skeptics.” We wondered about their questions about
systems research and where the answers to them could be found.
This book is a product of that week of vigorous dialogue and the collegial com-
mitment to advancing the systems sciences among us that deepened as a result of it.
A Guide to Systems Research—Philosophy, Processes and Practice does not replace
any of the excellent texts on specific systems methods that presently exist. For read-
ers’ consideration, this guide provides possible perspectives and a framework for
approaching research holistically. It can be used in addition to other systemic
approaches, as well as augmenting traditional approaches to research that typically
reduce a whole to parts and then attempt to reassemble the whole.
As we designed the chapters in this book, we carefully considered what topics
we felt a foundational systems research text must address. As we wrote, we chal-
lenged ourselves as authors to explain why each topic was crucial to all systems
research. We sought to write in a way that would assist readers in thinking through
each chapter’s topic as they crafted their own research inquiries. We kept in mind
the kinds of missteps systems researchers can make (as we had made several of
them ourselves) and how to develop research projects that can prevent or minimize
such pitfalls. We understand that sound research involves difficult choices and trad-
eoffs and we sought to write our chapters in such a way that readers recognize this.
Most importantly, we wanted readers to understand what considerations in each
chapter make for good research—as well as good systems research. And so, we
present this path as a way you, the reader, may approach your research using a sys-
temic perspective.
