Auteur
Sébastien Liarte
Abstract
The recent introduction of computer simulation in social sciences in general and in management sciences in particular, means that it has yet to be accepted in the researcher’s “toolbox.” To guarantee computer simulation’s early acceptance by the scientific community, its users have paid particular attention to the validity of their results. In particular, external validity, through comparison of real-world and simulated data, has been observed. However, this focus on reality has diverted attention from the most fertile issues regarding computer simulation, and created some misunderstandings. The aim of this paper is to clarify main misunderstandings, which are part of the reason that simulation methods are now well understood, in order to convince computer simulation non-users of the interest of this technique. After the misunderstanding clarifications, we provide and promote a new way, more useful, to use computer simulation for management researchers.
