268 Discrete Event Simulation for Health Technology Assessment
how much deviation is acceptable is generally required (it is rare for a model
to predict observed outputs with 100% accuracy, even for dependent valida-
tion). If a single data source is used to populate input parameters over the
time period for which the dependent validation targets are available, and the
simulation can be set up to otherwise faithfully reproduce that data source,
then the model should predict the validation targets with a high degree of
accuracy. If multiple data sources contribute to the predicted model outputs,
as in partially dependent validation, some deviation from the observed val-
ues may be acceptable but it is not possible to categorically state how much. ...