Automated Social Science: A Structural Causal Model-Based Approach

This paper introduces an innovative method for automating social science research, focusing on generating and testing hypotheses in a simulated environment. Leveraging recent strides in large language models (LLMs), the approach centers on structural causal models (SCMs) as the foundational language for hypotheses and the blueprint for experiments. The authors detail a system that uses LLMs to propose hypotheses, design agents with specified attributes, run experiments involving these agents in various social scenarios (negotiation, bail hearing, job interview, auction), collect data, and analyze the results using SCMs. Crucially, the paper demonstrates that in silico simulations driven by SCMs yield insights not consistently available through direct LLM prediction, highlighting the value of experimentation even in simulated settings. Findings from several scenarios illustrate the system's capabilities in identifying causal relationships and generating empirically-derived results.