8. Simulation and Virtual Experimentation: Grounding with Empirical Data

Some examinations of group processes may require intensive data collection to answer initial research questions. Findings, however, often lead to more research questions that could be answered if additional data were available. In cases where collecting additional data is cost prohibitive, researchers may benefit from formulating “what-if” questions that can be answered via simulation and virtual experimentation. This chapter presents a step-by-step guide to demonstrate (1) how simulation procedures can be developed and validated with existing empirical data and (2) how these procedures can be executed to conduct virtual experiments. To demonstrate these steps, we provide a tutorial based on potential what-if questions about two different aspects of the relationship between team cohesion and team effectiveness using continuous and discrete empirical data, respectively, along with Matlab code for the simulation, validation, and virtual experimentation. We then present two more complex examples from our own published papers.