Search

When computer simulation is being used to investigate a problem, any attempt at obtaining an optimum solution usually involves a search of the relevant factor space. Became a number of search techniques are available, it is desirable to bye some criteria for selecting the technique to be used in a specific simulation situation. However, no mathematical basis exists for an evaluation of these techniques relative to characteristics, that may vary from simulation to simulation. Thus, it is necessary to perform empirical studies ia order to obtain the required information. This paper discusses the homework and results of an empirical evaluation of the performance of name search techniques. It wag based on applying the techniques to various multidimensional situations that were constructed so that the true optimum vas known, providing comparison of the performance of each technique with the true optimum, as well as with the performance of other techniques. Each of the search techniques was evaluated for a variety of simulation characteristics in the situation where the available number of computer runs was relatively small compared with the number of factors being examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Problem recognition and formulation are usually more difficult than problem solution. However, problem recognition situations are difficult to devise, and educators in most cases seem to rely on structured problems or other prescription approaches. During the past two years a computer-simulation project has been used in auditing classes at the University of Wisconsin, principally to provide an unstructured approach to the study of sampling and confirmation techniques. This paper provides a description of such a simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the Second World War there has been a great upsurge of interest in the application of mathematical and scientific procedures to many problems of public opinion and communication. Perhaps nowhere is the development more exciting than in the study of social interaction and attitude formation in a community, midway between the contrived social groups of the laboratory and the great expanse of diverse activity in an entire nation. This article sets forth the details of a computer simulation model of community referenda. The model was constructed with the specific case of fluoridation controversies in mind. Nevertheless, the formulation is sufficiently general so that it may be applied to research on other referendum issues, as well as to nonpolitical situations of individual decision making within a larger social context. The model will be set forth in general terms, with occasional references to the fluoridation issue for the sake of concreteness. The authors have several purposes in mind: to describe the specific features of this particular simulation model, bringing several levels of theory and both experimental and field phenomena to bear upon the total conception; to illustrate the properties of the model by giving some results of a preliminary trial upon artificial, albeit realistic, data; to discuss some of the broad problems that are likely to be encountered in this type of approach; and finally, thus, to elucidate the general character of simulation technique, which seems to offer eventual promise of uniting theories of individual behavior with theories of group behavior.