Social simulation comparison in arbitrary problem domains: first steps towards a more principled approach

Abstract

We outline a simulation development process, backed by a software framework, which focuses on developing and using a partial conceptual model as a ‘lens’ to compare and possibly re-implement existing models in a chosen problem domain (as well as to design new models). To make this feasible for existing models of arbitrary structure and background social theory, we construct our (partial) conceptual model in a way that acknowledges that it is a base representation which any individual model will typically add detail to, and abstract away from, in various ways which we argue can be formalised. A given model’s design is fitted to the conceptual model to capture how its structural architecture (and selected aspects of the system’s state and driving processes) map to the conceptual model. This fit can be used to produce incomplete skeleton code which can then be extended to produce a simulation. Along the way, we discuss how the field of robust decision-making provides a useful context for this, and how it differs from other approaches. This is inevitably a preliminary approach to a broad and difficult problem, so we end by discussing some of the main issues and what might be needed next.

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