PROJECT QUESTIONNAIRE Introduction to Agent-Based Modeling Course

This information sheet and questionnaire is intended to prepare you for generating your project. By taking some time to go through the materials below, it will help us in making the course as productive as possible. In addition to filling out the questionnaire below, we ask that you download the NetLogo modeling environment from the CCLÕs website at: http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/. Click on the ÒDownloadÓ link and from there follow the directions to install NetLogo on your machine. Version 5.3.1 is what we will be using during the course.

Tutorials

In order to familiarize yourself with the tools, there are some basic NetLogo tutorials for you to use. We recommend this practice in advance in order to get the most out of the course experience. The tutorials take a couple of hours but will give you the skills you need to make the most out of the course. To access these tutorials:

1. Start up NetLogo, and click on ÒHelpÓ in the menu bar.

2. Then choose ÒUser ManualÓ.

3. Once the User Manual loads up in your browser, you will see three tutorials listed on the left-hand side under ÒLearning NetLogo.Ó

   If you have any questions with any of this or need help, please email abm@complexityexplorer.org

Model Questionnaire

Modeling, particularly agent-based modeling, is particularly useful in helping you frame and solve issues that have a large number of interacting entities and complex processes, and thus the result is highly unpredictable. In this section we will provide you with some criteria to help in selecting a particular phenomenon to examine. We will be sharing more about the value of ABM at the opening of the session but want you to be able to choose a complex but approachable phenomenon that will particularly benefit from ABM. Note that we are purposely using the language of complexity science and agent-based modeling in this worksheet (e.g., agents) so you can become more and more familiar with what makes a complexity science approach different from other, perhaps more common or traditional approaches.

These questions are intended to focus your thoughts on a phenomenon for which you would eventually like to build an ABM model. It is important to choose a phenomenon of limited scope so that you can make progress with your model. Even if the phenomenon you would eventually like to address is large in scope, try to choose a sub-part of it as a starting point.

(1) What part of your phenomenon would you like to build a model of?

How do different approaches to resident selection affect the activity level of the overall resident population?

E.g.

• random selection
  • from N nearest
  • from all residents
• selection based on knowledge of N nearest residents
• selection based on knowledge of all residents

(2) What are the principal types of agents involved in this phenomenon?

• people
  • residents
  • activity facilitators

(3) What properties do these agents have (describe by agent type)?

• residents
  • activity level
    • low
    • medium
    • high
  • recent activity count

(4) What actions (or behaviors) can these agents take (describe by agent type)?

• residents
  • move around
• activity facilitators
  • move towards resident(s)
  • interact with resident (facilitate activity)

(5) If the agents have goals, what are their goals (describe by agent type)?

• residents
  • maintain a medium-high level of activity
• activity facilitators
  • ensure all residents maintain medium-high activity level

(6) In what kind of environment do these agents operate?

Residents and activity facilitators operate in a skilled nursing environment.

(7) How do these agents interact with this environment?

Residents and activity facilitators move around the skilled nursing environment. They may be constrained to operate within a specific area, if it is relevant to the model.

(8) If you had to ÒdiscretizeÓ the phenomenon into time steps, what events and in what order would occur during any one time step?

• residents
  • move one increment in a (random) direction
• activity facilitator(s)
  • move one increment towards a selected resident
  • interact with selected resident, if within certain radius

(9) What do you hope to observe from this model?

I hope to observe that resident selection based on local or global knowledge of resident activity levels will improve the overall resident population activity level, compared against random resident selection.

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Thank you in advance for your time and effort on these questionnaires. We look forward to seeing you soon.