The process of validation is essential to the credible and reliable use of any simulation. Although Department of Defense policy and guidance increasingly emphasizes the importance of rigorous validation founded in the application of strong statistical analysis, implementation of rigorous validation continues to face multiple challenges. This tutorial will address several of those challenges:
- How to identify, collect, and combine validation referent data (what the simulation results will be compared to)
- How to identify the simulation measures and metrics to use as the basis of comparison (the aspects of the results that will be compared to the referent)
- Methods to apply when performing the results/referent comparison
- How to quantify risk and residual uncertainty associated with the application of the simulation
The tutorial will enhance the learning experience by incorporating lessons learned derived from the many VV&A applications with which the authors have been involved.