Validation and verification of social processes within agent-based computational organization models |
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Authors: | Levent Yilmaz |
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Institution: | (1) The Auburn Modeling and Simulation Laboratory of the M&SNet, Computer Science and Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA |
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Abstract: | The use of simulation modeling in computational analysis of organizations is becoming a prominent approach in social science
research. However, relying on simulations to gain intuition about social phenomena has significant implications. While simulations
may give rise to interesting macro-level phenomena, and sometimes even mimic empirical data, the underlying micro and macro
level processes may be far from realistic. Yet, this realism may be important to infer results that are relevant to existing
theories of social systems and to policy making. Therefore, it is important to assess not only predictive capability but also
explanation accuracy of formal models in terms of the degree of realism reflected by the embedded processes. This paper presents
a process-centric perspective for the validation and verification (V&V) of agent-based computational organization models.
Following an overview of the role of V&V within the life cycle of a simulation study, emergent issues in agent-based organization
model V&V are outlined. The notion of social contract that facilitates capturing micro level processes among agents is introduced
to enable reasoning about the integrity and consistency of agent-based organization designs. Social contracts are shown to
enable modular compositional verification of interaction dynamics among peer agents. Two types of consistency are introduced:
horizontal and vertical consistency. It is argued that such local consistency analysis is necessary, but insufficient to validate
emergent macro processes within multi-agent organizations. As such, new formal validation metrics are introduced to substantiate
the operational validity of emergent macro-level behavior.
Levent Yilmaz is Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering in the College of Engineering at Auburn University and co-founder
of the Auburn Modeling and Simulation Laboratory of the M&SNet. Dr. Yilmaz received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees from Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). His research interests are on advancing the theory and methodology
of simulation modeling, agent-directed simulation (to explore dynamics of socio-technical systems, organizations, and human/team
behavior), and education in simulation modeling. Dr. Yilmaz is a member of ACM, IEEE Computer Society, Society for Computer
Simulation International, and Upsilon Pi Epsilon. URL: http://www.eng.auburn.edu/~yilmaz |
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Keywords: | Agent-based modeling Computational organization Simulation Social processes Validation Verification |
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