Simulation studies of social systems: telling the story based on provenance patterns.
Date
2024
Authors
Wilsdorf, P.
Reinhardt, O.
Prike, T.
Hinsch, M.
Bijak, J.
Uhrmacher, A.M.
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Journal article
Citation
Royal Society Open Science, 2024; 11(8):240258-1-240258-24
Statement of Responsibility
Pia Wilsdorf, Oliver Reinhardt, Toby Prike, Martin Hinsch, Jakub Bijak, and Adelinde M. Uhrmacher
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Abstract
Social simulation studies are complex. They typically combine various data sources and hypotheses about the system’s mechanisms that are integrated by intertwined processes of model building, simulation experiment execution and analysis. Various documentation approaches exist to increase the transparency and traceability of complex social simulation studies. Provenance standards enable the formalization of information on sources and activities, which contribute to the generation of an entity, in a queryable and computationally accessible manner. Provenance patterns can be defined as constraints on the relationships between specific types of activities and entities of a simulation study. In this paper, we refine the provenance pattern-based approach to address specific challenges of social agent-based simulation studies. Specifically, we focus on the activities and entities involved in collecting and analysing primary data about human decisions, and the collection and quality assessment of secondary data. We illustrate the potential of this approach by applying it to central activities and results of an agent-based simulation project and by presenting its implementation in a web-based tool.
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© 2024 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.