Towards dialectic models for documenting and conducting simulation studies: A vision

Validation and documentation of rationale are central to simulation studies. Most current approaches focus only on individual simulation artifacts—most typically simulation models—and their validity rather than their contribution to the overall simulation study. Approaches that aim to validate simulation studies as a whole either impose structured processes with the implicit assumption that this will ensure validity, or they rely on capturing provenance and rationale, most commonly in natural language, following accepted documentation guidelines. Inspired by dialectic approaches for developing mathematical proofs, we propose a vision of capturing validity and rationale information as a study unfolds through agent dialogues that also generate the overall simulation-study argument, as a novel approach to documenting and conducting simulation studies. We illustrate the key ideas in an example simulation study, highlight potential benefits of this novel approach, and identify key next steps towards making the vision a reality.