Towards a science of socio-ecological diagnosis

Abstract

For the last decade or so, an increasing number of scholars have touched on the idea of developing a science of diagnosis. Elinor Ostrom, in her influential article on “A diagnostic approach for going beyond Panaceas”, presented a framework (i.e., the SES Framework) as a first step to move towards better diagnoses of problems and solutions. Since then, applications of the framework, alternative frameworks, and a variety of new and not so new techniques have been applied to different contexts under the promise of offering providing better diagnostics. But, what science of diagnosis and how it is different from the scientific method as we know it? This paper addresses the question by highlighting distinctive features of the science of socio-ecological diagnosis as they relate to the construction of frameworks for socio-ecological analysis, the role of theory building and testing, the reliance on mixed-methods (and single and comparative case studies in particular), and the policy-science interface, among other aspects. As we pose, advancements in the science of diagnosis can benefit from the construction of “usable” frameworks (i.e., that include methodological guidance about their usage and are transparent in linkages with other frameworks), middle ground theories that clearly distinguish scope from explanatory conditions, standardization of quality criteria for case study methods, and explicit efforts to translate theory into policy treatments, among other aspects.