The Users’ Judgements—The Stakeholder Approach to Simulation Validation

Abstract

This article presents a sociological perspective on the stakeholder approach to simulation validation using the validation of socio-ecological simulation models as an example. I develop an argument-based approach to simulation validation which can be applied in the natural and social sciences and argue that it is the constructionist camp of action researchers which has to consider the stakeholders' judgements as an indispensable point of reference for simulation validation. Only the stakeholders can validate that the model makes explicit their tacit knowledge. Only the stakeholders' willingness to accept and act upon the scenarios can decide issues of credibility. Obtaining the stakeholders' judgements in such a framework is an iterative communicative procedure that requires a strong background in qualitative methods of empirical social research as well as gaming simulation.