Mind the framing: Match purpose and context

This chapter discusses the relevance of spoken and unspoken frames in the mathematical modelling of a problem. Frames, intended as beliefs and normative visions of the world, may underpin a given modelling approach, its technical choices, and the relationships that matter. Frames constrain and prefigure the space of the possible courses of action. The chapter also discusses why the technique is never neutral and illustrates the usefulness as well as the challenges of deliberative stakeholder involvement via participatory forecasting in two domains—flooding risk and the management of fisheries—where local sources of knowledge have made a difference.