Scientific modelling

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Scientific modelling is the process of generating abstract or conceptual models. Science offers a growing collection of methods, techniques and theory about all kinds of specialized scientific modelling. Some general theory about scientific modelling is offered by the philosophy of science, the systems theory and new fields like knowledge visualization.

1 The process of generating a model
2 The process of evaluating a model
3 Specialized forms of scientific modelling
4 Literature about scientific modelling
5 Organizations for scientific modelling
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] The process of generating a model

Modelling refers to the process of generating a model as a conceptual representation of some phenomenon. Typically a model will refer only to some aspects of the phenomenon in question, and two models of the same phenomenon may be essentially different, that is in which the difference is more than just a simple renaming. This may be due to differing requirements of the model's end users or to conceptual or esthetic differences by the modellers and decisions made during the modelling process. Esthetic considerations that may influence the structure of a model might be the modeller's preference for a reduced ontology, preferences regarding probabilistic models vis-a-vis deterministic ones, discrete vs continuous time etc. For this reason users of a model need to understand the model's original purpose and the assumptions of its validity. Models are basically known to generate creativity from chaos.

[edit] The process of evaluating a model

A model is evaluated using a utility function to yield estimates of several values:

Ability to explain past observations
Ability to predict future observations
Ability to control events
Cost of use, especially in combination with other models
Refutability, enabling estimation of the degree of confidence in the model
Simplicity, or even esthetic appeal

[edit] Specialized forms of scientific modelling

[edit] Literature about scientific modelling

Since the 1960s there is a strong growing amount of books and magazines about specific forms of scientific modelling. There is also a lot of discussion about scientific modeling in the philosophy-of-science literature. For an overview, see the entry Models in Science in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.