How to create generalizable results

Abstract

Basically, this chapter tries to find answers for the following fundamental questions in experimental research. (Q-1) How can problem instances be generated? (Q-2) How can experimental results be generalized? The chapter is structured as follows. Section 56.2 introduces real-world and artificial optimization problems. Algorithms are described in Sect. 56.3. Objective functions and statistical models are introduced in Sect. 56.4; these models take problem and algorithm features into consideration. Section 56.5 presents case studies that illustrate our methodology. The chapter closes with a summary and an outlook.