Credible Agent-Based Simulation – An Illusion or Only A Step Awayƒ

Abstract

During the World Café activity at the 2018 Winter Simulation Conference, we discussed Agent-based Simulation (ABS) credibility. The topic is important since credible ABS leads to an impact on society whereby ABS is implemented by users and they can benefit from it. This paper presents the perspective of three academic panelists and a practitioner on the credibility of ABS. The discussion reveals that the increasing use of ABS models to explain social phenomena or systems that exhibit emergent behavior pose a challenge for model credibility. Several points and suggestions are raised by the panelists, including evaluating ABS model credibility via its explanatory power, the multi-dimensionality of credibility and the role of software engineering approaches.