Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science

Living Edition
| Editors: Robert A. Meyers

Group Model Building

  • Etiënne A. J. A. RouwetteEmail author
  • Jac A. M. Vennix
Living reference work entry
First Online:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27737-5_264-3
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Definition of the Subject

Computer (simulation) models have been used to support policy and decision making in decades after World War II. Over the years, modelers learned that the application of these models to policy problems was not as straightforward as had been thought initially. As of the beginning of the 1970s, studies started to appear that questioned the use of large-scale computer models to support policy and decision making (cf. Hoos 1972; Lee 1973). Lee’s article bears the significant title: “Requiem for large-scale models,” a statement that leaves little room for ambiguity. Other authors who have studied the impact records of computer models also seem rather skeptical (e.g., Brewer 1973; Greenberger et al. 1976; House 1982; Watt 1977). It is interesting to note that Greenberger et al., after interviewing both modelers and policy makers (for whom the models were constructed), found that modelers generally pointed to the fact that they learned a lot from modeling a...

Keywords

System Dynamic Model Nominal Group Technique Junior Researcher Modeling Team Reference Mode 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  • Etiënne A. J. A. Rouwette
    • 1
    Email author
  • Jac A. M. Vennix
    • 1
  1. 1.Institute for Management ResearchRadboud UniversityNijmegenThe Netherlands