Home Page (MVA) > Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) and Resources > IAMs Thematic Guide
Thematic Guide to Integrated Assessment Modeling
[HOME] [PREVIOUS] [NEXT] [BOTTOM]
Integrated Assessment Supplements Disciplinary Research
Disciplinary research, whether in the natural or social sciences, is unlikely to do the jobs of attending to intersections among domains or prioritizing decision-relevant uncertainties and research needs. Even if a research program includes the entire set of relevant disciplines, from natural and social sciences, this breadth does not make integration. Nor will the integrating activity emerge spontaneously from a broad, disciplinary-oriented program: It requires serious, intentional direction and resources.But integrated assessment does not replace disciplinary research; it supplements it. While integrated assessment is needed to identify and prioritize decision-relevant gaps in knowledge, it cannot normally fill the gaps. Filling them takes disciplinary research, whether in the natural or social sciences.
The next section is A Difficult Craft, An Immature Discipline.