TU Wien:Computational Social Simulation VU (Rengs)/Exam 2020-06-16

Due to COVID-19 there were just four questions (1h time), two exams took place on 18.06.2020:

First exam:

• What is the difference between top-down and bottom-up modeling techniques – and which simulation methods are top-down, which bottom-up. Give an example that shows the difference between the two approaches (also draw a sketch showing the layers, agents, interaction and direction of inference; choose a different example than sheep & wolves).
• What is (are) the world model(s) (Club of Rome)? What did it try to show? Was prediction of exact values a goal?
• What is the small worlds phenomenon (what does it describe)? Describe the initial experiment that showed/measured the phenomenon! How is it connected to power-laws? Which kinds of networks are likely to show the small worlds phenomenon? How can a small worlds network form?
• What are experimental designs with regard to computer simulations? What kind of designs did we mention in the lecture? Which experimental design does a basic Netlogo behaviourspace experiment use? How could we employ other experimental design techniques?

Second exam:

• What is an emergent phenomenon (emergence)? Give examples for emergent phenomena! Which modelling techniques can simulate emergent phenomena?
• What is a SD simulation model (compared to causal loop and stock flow diagrams)? How is such a simulation developed (simple words)? What are such simulations used for? Which kind of systems/processes are they well suited to simulate?
• What are strong ties and weak ties in social networks? Why can weak ties be important – explain and give examples! What does this have to do with network structures?
• What are experimental designs with regard to computer simulations? What kind of designs did we mention in the lecture? Which experimental design does a basic Netlogo behaviourspace experiment use? How could we employ other experimental design techniques?