Kurs-Information

This seminar is about learning the basics of *computer simulations* in the social sciences. In particular, at the beginning of the seminar we will deal with the specification and classification of simulations in the social sciences. Thereafter, we will focus on specific simulation types and get to know the associated software. We will deal with continuous-time microsimulations and get to know the software MicSim (in R). We will also deal with agent-based simulations and get to know NetLogo.

The seminar is structured as follows: 
-Basic / introduction (3 lectures)
-Presentations of students (4 lectures)
-Simulation Software and simple examples (4 lectures)

Introductory Literature
Axelrod, R. (1997). Advancing the art of simulation in the social sciences. In Simulating social phenomena (pp. 21-40). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Garson, G. D. (2009). Computerized simulation in the social sciences: A survey and evaluation. Simulation & Gaming, 40(2), 267-279.
Gilbert, N., & Doran, J. (Eds.). (2018). Simulating societies: the computer simulation of social phenomena. Routledge.
Gilbert, N. (1999). Simulation: A new way of doing social science. American Behavioral Scientist, 42(10), 1485-1487.
Küppers, G., & Lenhard, J. (2005). Validation of simulation: Patterns in the social and natural sciences. Journal of artificial societies and social simulation, 8(4).
Lazer, D. M., Pentland, A., Watts, D. J., Aral, S., Athey, S., Contractor, N., ... & Wagner, C. (2020). Computational social science: Obstacles and opportunities. Science, 369(6507), 1060-1062.
Squazzoni, F., Jager, W., & Edmonds, B. (2014). Social simulation in the social sciences: A brief overview. Social Science Computer Review, 32(3), 279-294.