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Model validation and testing in simulation: a literature review

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conference contribution
posted on 2016-06-24, 13:28 authored by Naoum Tsioptsias, Antuela Tako, Stewart Robinson
Model validation is a key activity undertaken during the model development process in simulation. There is a large body of literature on model validation, albeit there exists little convergence in terms of the definitions, types of validity, and tests used. Yet it is not clear what standards should be taken into consideration to avoid developing what could be considered to be invalid or wrong models. In this paper we examine existing literature on model validation with the view to identifying the existing validation approaches and types of tests used to assess model validity. In this review we focus our attention on three domains that usually overlap in methods and techniques: general Operational Research (OR), Modelling & Simulation (M&S) and Computer Science (CS). We analyze each field to identify the aspects of validity considered including the tests used, the validation approach taken, i.e. the suggested level of validity achieved (if this applies) and the reported outcome. The analysis shows that there are common validation practices used in all three fields as well as new ideas that could be adopted in discrete event simulation. Some main points of concurrence include the lack of universal validation, the continuous need for validation, and, the indispensable need for modelers and users to work closely together during the model validation process. This review provides an initial categorization of literature on model validation which can in turn be used as a basis for future work in investigating how and to what extent models are considered sufficiently valid.

History

School

  • Business and Economics

Department

  • Business

Published in

5th Student Conference on Operational Research (SCOR 2016)

Pages

? - ? (10)

Citation

TSIOPTSIAS, N., TAKO. A.A. and ROBINSON, S., 2016. Model validation and testing in simulation: a literature review. Presented at the 5th Student Conference on Operational Research (SCOR 2016), Nottingham University, 8-10th April.

Publisher

© The Authors. Published by Dagstuhl Publishing

Version

  • NA (Not Applicable or Unknown)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Acceptance date

2016-05-15

Publication date

2016

Notes

This is a conference paper. This is an Open Access Article. It is published by Dagstuhl Publishing under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

ISBN

9783959770040

Language

  • en

Location

Nottingham University