Making computational social science effective - Epistemology, methodology, and technology

There has been significant recent interest in Agent Based Modeling in many social sciences including economics, sociology, anthropology, political science, and game theory. This article describes three problems that need to be addressed in order for such models to become effective tools for formulating new social theory and informing policy debates and suggests approaches to meeting them. These issues are computational epistemology, research methodology, and software technology. These innovations augment Agent Based Modeling to create an effective new tool base to help better understand complex social systems.