Each student will write a short research paper for a peer-reviewed research paper that pertains to the week’s assigned reading.  This will be a detailed summary of the research paper and what you

ITS 832 CHAPTER 3 THE QUALITY OF SOCIAL SIMULATION: AN EXAMPLE FROM RESEARCH POLIC Y MODELLING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN A GLOBAL ECONOMY DR. JORDON SHAW INTRODUCTION • The Quality of Social Simulation: • An Example from Research Policy Modelling • A simulation is good • “… when we get from it what we originally would have liked to get from the target” • Different views • Standard • Constructionist • User community • Chapter focus • Different approaches to assessing the quality of a simulation SIMULATION COMPARISON STANDARD VIEW • Verification • Does the code do what it is supposed to do? • Validation • Do the outputs resemble observations of the target? • Relies on the observability of reality • Must be able to compare simulation output to reality • Standard view may suffer from under -determination • Multiple incompatible theories may result from the same data CONSTRUCTIONIST VIEW • Compares • What you observe in the real world with, • What you observe as simulation output • Seems similar to Standard view, right? • Constructionists view all observations as constructions • Evaluation is not possible • Even observations of reality lack the ability to pass validation USER COMMUNITY VIEW • Evaluation is carried out • Using the observations of the affected user community • Not just based on prior knowledge • Closer to “real” results • Often, results are influenced by multiple related factors POLICY MODELLING FOR EX - ANTE EVALUATION OF EU FUNDING PROGRAMS HORIZON 2020 STUDY WORKFLOW SUMMARY • Simulation quality depends on simulation process • Three different simulation views • Standard • Constructionist • User community • User community view • Most promising • Most work -intensive