Learning to Play with the Machines in Social Science Research: Bringing the Theory Back In

In this position paper, we argue that computational social science, as an evolving field, lacks and requires organizing principles. A broad space separates the two constituent disciplines, which has to date been sidestepped rather than filled by applying increasingly complex computational models to problems in social science research. We review the three major questions about the disciplines' cooperation. We thereby identify that the challenges are not practical but epistemological. The crisis of a lack of theory began at the field's inception and has, over the decades, grown more important and challenging. A return to theoretically grounded research questions will propel the field from both theoretical and methodological points of view.