From Logistic Networks to Social Networks

4Simulation Techniques Applied to the Analysis of Sociological Networks

4.1. Introduction

When exact methods cannot be used due to the complexity of the system, as observed or as conceptualized, recourse to simulation can make it possible to deal with more complex problems. This is the case with networks, the complexity of which may result from the interweaving of subnets. Simulation is often the only possible analytical approach, the complement of which is to produce results that cannot be generalized beyond the observations.

Computer simulation, now identified in the scientific community under the label M&S (Modeling and Simulation), is used to increase decision-making support capacities, especially for complex problems, that are difficult to handle by means other than computers. It is a question of approaching the behavior of a real or virtual dynamic system by means of a digital model, using the model as a platform for experiments, and then interpreting the results to make decisions on the system. A compilation of historical definitions on the concept of simulation is outlined in Pritsker (1979).

For a long time, driven mainly by practice, the field of M&S has remained in search of a general theory, to unify the diversity of approaches adopted, through the lens of a universal vision of the models, transversal to all fields of application, and with a coherent interpretation of all the transformations that characterize the evolution of a simulation model in its lifecycle. ...