「ミクロ→マクロ」に関する方法論的検討

In the field of higher education, there are many studies that seek to contribute to policy and practice. In this pursuit, research in higher education studies tends to have both micro and macro aspects. However, the relationship between micro behavior and macro phenomena is not self-evident, and conventional research shows methodological shortcomings. This research focuses on how the micro foundations of macro issues can be identified from a methodological perspective, and examines the limitations, possibilities, and suitability of the simulation approach, especially agent-based model (ABM) for higher education research.
First, this paper will re-frame the discussion on the formulation of micro-macro mechanisms in the real world and organize it from the methodological viewpoint of how to quantitatively describe the mechanisms and contradictions contained in the “micro to macro” process. In section two, we will organize the development of the debate on the micro-macro issue and the points of contention from the viewpoint of social science methodology. Section three focuses on the process by which the concept of concrete macro is constructed and analyzes the difficulties in quantitative descriptions of “micro to macro”. Based on these discussions, section four focuses on the research methods utilized in “micro to macro” analysis and presents the applicability and problems of Agent Based Model (ABM).