851-0585-04L – Modeling and Simulating Social Systems with MATLAB 22.07.2018 851-0585-04L – Modeling and Simulating Social Systems with MATLAB Lecture 2 – Research Project & Proposal Karsten Donnay and Stefano Balietti Chair of Sociology, in particular of Modeling and Simulation © ETH Zürich |

Schedule of the course Introduction to MATLAB 22.07.2018 Schedule of the course Introduction to MATLAB 24.09. 01.10. 08.10. 15.10. 22.10. 29.10. 05.11. 12.11. 19.11. 26.11. 03.12. 10.12. 17.12. Introduction to social-science modeling and simulations Working on projects (seminar thesis) Handing in seminar thesis and giving a presentation

SUBSCRIBE msssm Your Name 22.07.2018 Mailing List To sign up send an email to: sympa@sympa.ethz.ch with text: SUBSCRIBE msssm Your Name (e.g. SUBSCRIBE msssm Karsten Donnay) Text to unsubscribe: SIGNOFF msssm Write to mailing list: msssm@sympa.ethz.ch 

Examination Format (please also refer to the course description) 22.07.2018 Examination Format (please also refer to the course description) Students earn their credit points by: implementing an established mathematical model from the social science literature in MATLAB; producing a ~30 page seminar thesis (code must be included) Presenting the results it in a 15 minute seminar talk. “Submission” of the work through GitHub www.github.com [more details later on in the course] The thesis should include a discussion of the mathematical model, the sociological concept behind it, the meaning of formulas, properties of the model, and parameter dependencies, but also possible practical implications. The computer code should be sufficiently well documented.

Seminar thesis Reproducing results in MATLAB 22.07.2018 Seminar thesis Reproducing results in MATLAB Writing a report and giving a talk Studying a scientific paper

22.07.2018 Project Implementation of a model from the Social Science literature in MATLAB During the next 1-2 weeks: Form a group of 2-4 students Decide together on a topic and research question There are a lot of different project topics available on the Project section of the course website but we strongly encourage you to realize your own ideas for example with one of the datasets listed!

Project If you are looking for inspiration: 22.07.2018 Project If you are looking for inspiration: A number of reports from the previous course are linked on the Project section of the website Take a look what they did, maybe you would like to build up on their work… If you are a Master/PhD student: It is, of course, acceptable if you would like to do a project that is related to your research interests Please approach us in class or write us an email if you have any questions.

Project What we expect from you 22.07.2018 Project What we expect from you Organize yourself into groups (use the mailing list!) Carefully select a topic (and corresponding papers) Think about which particular question you want to study From NEXT Monday on we give you 2 weeks to submit a short 1-2 page proposal that very briefly(!) describes what you are planning to do The purpose of the proposal is to ensure that you are on the right track with your project idea; please take your time forming your project idea and submit the proposals starting next week!

“The formulation of a problem is often more essential than its solution which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skills.” Albert Einstein (14 Mar 1879 – 18 Apr 1955)

Research Proposal 1-2 (not more!) pages stating: 22.07.2018 Research Proposal 1-2 (not more!) pages stating: Brief, general introduction to the problem How you plan to abstract it with a model Research questions you want to try to answer Existing literature you will base your model on and possible extensions Research methods you are planning to use

Modeling Cycle Model Simulated data Social processes Collected Data 22.07.2018 Modeling Cycle Simulation Model Simulated data Abstraction Similarity Social processes Collected Data Data gathering Source: Gilbert and Troitzsch (2005)

Project Proposal Submitting the proposal 22.07.2018 Project Proposal Submitting the proposal Set up a GitHub repository for your group The research proposal is the readme file of the repository! Please use the proposal template at https://github.com/msssm/project_template

Project Template Repo on Github 22.07.2018 Project Template Repo on Github

Research Plan Upon submission, the Research Plan can: 22.07.2018 Research Plan Upon submission, the Research Plan can: be accepted be accepted under revision be modified later on only if change is justified (create new version) Talk to us if you are not sure about your project ideas Final deadline for signing-up for a project is: October 22nd 2012

“Plans are useless, but planning is everything.” Dwight David Eisenhower (14 Oct 1890 – 28 Mar 1969)

Any questions?