An experimental investigation into the role of simulation models in generating insights

Gogi, Anastasia; Tako, Antuela A.; Robinson, Stewart

doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2015.09.042

Cited by 14 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…One of the core aims of Behavioural OR is to analyse and understand the practice and impact of OR on context (e.g. [ 51 – 53 ]).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Operational research as implementation science: definitions, challenges and research priorities

Monks

2015

Implementation Sci

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BackgroundOperational research (OR) is the discipline of using models, either quantitative or qualitative, to aid decision-making in complex implementation problems. The methods of OR have been used in healthcare since the 1950s in diverse areas such as emergency medicine and the interface between acute and community care; hospital performance; scheduling and management of patient home visits; scheduling of patient appointments; and many other complex implementation problems of an operational or logistical nature.DiscussionTo date, there has been limited debate about the role that operational research should take within implementation science. I detail three such roles for OR all grounded in upfront system thinking: structuring implementation problems, prospective evaluation of improvement interventions, and strategic reconfiguration. Case studies from mental health, emergency medicine, and stroke care are used to illustrate each role. I then describe the challenges for applied OR within implementation science at the organisational, interventional, and disciplinary levels. Two key challenges include the difficulty faced in achieving a position of mutual understanding between implementation scientists and research users and a stark lack of evaluation of OR interventions. To address these challenges, I propose a research agenda to evaluate applied OR through the lens of implementation science, the liberation of OR from the specialist research and consultancy environment, and co-design of models with service users.SummaryOperational research is a mature discipline that has developed a significant volume of methodology to improve health services. OR offers implementation scientists the opportunity to do more upfront system thinking before committing resources or taking risks. OR has three roles within implementation science: structuring an implementation problem, prospective evaluation of implementation problems, and a tool for strategic reconfiguration of health services. Challenges facing OR as implementation science include limited evidence and evaluation of impact, limited service user involvement, a lack of managerial awareness, effective communication between research users and OR modellers, and availability of healthcare data. To progress the science, a focus is needed in three key areas: evaluation of OR interventions, embedding the knowledge of OR in health services, and educating OR modellers about the aims and benefits of service user involvement.

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“…One of the core aims of Behavioural OR is to analyse and understand the practice and impact of OR on context (e.g. [ 51 – 53 ]).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Operational research as implementation science: definitions, challenges and research priorities

Monks

2015

Implementation Sci

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“…This study also highlights overconfidence as an issue when those involved in model building attempt to transfer their learning without the aid of a new model. In another DES study, Gogi, Tako and Robinson (2015) consider whether DES models do generate insights. They run an experiment in which participants were placed in three separate groups and given the task to solve using a model with only animation, a model with only statistical results, or using no model at all.…”

Section: Introduction To the Articles In The Special Issuementioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioural operational research: Returning to the roots of the OR profession

Franco

Hämäläinen

2016

European Journal of Operational Research

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“…Simulation methods and interventions can be considered as a type of ‘learning healthcare system’, in which learning is the mechanism through which organisations continuously improve their performance 17. Indeed, it has often been argued that constructive simulations are learning tools,65 aimed at generating insights into the dynamics of the system being modelled 66. Similarly, behavioural simulation is often used as a training tool16 or to support learning about poorly understood phenomena 18.…”

Section: Evaluating Simulation For Management and Policy-makingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, it is important that programme theories integrate intermediate outcomes such as increased awareness of specific issues (‘knowledge’) or modifications in decisions being made (‘behaviour’). For instance, studies have assessed how different ways of presenting the results of computer simulations affect the ‘insights’ generated by the model, which is a way to measure ‘knowledge’ in Kirkpatrick’s framework,66 while others have looked at how involving stakeholders while building the model affects the uptake of the results, as a way to assess ‘behaviour’ 70. These studies contribute to a better understanding of how simulation creates learning among managers and help refine the delivery of simulation interventions.…”

Section: Evaluating Simulation For Management and Policy-makingmentioning

confidence: 99%

From behavioural simulation to computer models: how simulation can be used to improve healthcare management and policy

Lamé

Simmons

2018

BMJ STEL

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Simulation is a technique that evokes or replicates substantial aspects of the real world, in order to experiment with a simplified imitation of an operations system, for the purpose of better understanding and/or improving that system. Simulation provides a safe environment for investigating individual and organisational behaviour and a risk-free testbed for new policies and procedures. Therefore, it can complement or replace direct field observations and trial-and-error approaches, which can be time consuming, costly and difficult to carry out. However, simulation has low adoption as a research and improvement tool in healthcare management and policy-making. The literature on simulation in these fields is dispersed across different disciplinary traditions and typically focuses on a single simulation method. In this article, we examine how simulation can be used to investigate, understand and improve management and policy-making in healthcare organisations. We develop the rationale for using simulation and provide an integrative overview of existing approaches, using examples of in vivo behavioural simulations involving live participants, pure in silico computer simulations and intermediate approaches (virtual simulation) where human participants interact with computer simulations of health organisations. We also discuss the combination of these approaches to organisational simulation and the evaluation of simulation-based interventions.

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An experimental investigation into the role of simulation models in generating insights

Cited by 14 publications

References 66 publications

Operational research as implementation science: definitions, challenges and research priorities

Operational research as implementation science: definitions, challenges and research priorities

Behavioural operational research: Returning to the roots of the OR profession

From behavioural simulation to computer models: how simulation can be used to improve healthcare management and policy

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