Agent-based modeling for social scientists

Описание: 2022-11-16 | Workshp | Oke Bahnsen (University of Mannheim) & Malte Grönemann (University of Mannheim)

Abstract

Agent-based computer simulations have gained increasing popularity in many scientific disciplines in the last two decades. But what are they? And what is their appeal for the social sciences? How can they be used by social scientists? In this introductory talk, we first give an overview over the definition and origin of agent-based models and their relation to other types of computer simulation. Second, we show the appeal and usage depending on different research goals with examples from our own work in sociology (namely information diffusion and residential segregation) and political science (namely dynamic multiparty competition).

Presenters

Oke Bahnsen is a doctoral researcher and research associate in political science at the University of Mannheim. He studied economics (M.Sc.) as well as mathematics and political science (M.Ed.) in Kiel and Göteborg. His research focuses on coalition politics and electoral behavior. Methodologically, he is interested in using agent-based modeling to study party competition and opinion dynamics, as well as in experimental research conducted both in the laboratory and in large-scale population-based surveys.

Malte Grönemann is a doctoral researcher and lecturer in sociology at the University of Mannheim. He studied sociology, economics, and statistics in Bonn, Cologne, Mannheim and Linköping. His work focuses on complex social systems which he studies using differential equations and agent-based models. Specifically, he currently works on network diffusion and socio-economic residential segregation. Methodically, he is interested in statistics, visualisation as well as data and research quality in the quantitative social sciences.