PHENOMENON (Model building of a)
Charles François (2004). PHENOMENON (Model building of a), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics, 2(2): 2554.
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2554 ▶ |
| Object type | Epistemology, ontology or semantics, Methodology or model |
J.W. SUTHERLAND describes as follows the four analytical levels on which systems analysis can proceed to construct a more or less complete model of a phenomenon:
- “ — The state-variable level, which finds us trying to exhaust the array of structural properties (i.e., major qualitative or static aspects) of the entity under investigation.
- “ — The parametric level, where we try to assign some specific quantitative or categorical value to the state-variables, with respect to a specific point in time and real space.
- “ — The relational level, which asks that we establish the nature of the interrelationships among the state-variables and the direction of influence (as in static comparative analysis in macro-economics).
- “ — The coefficient level, which involves the assignment of a specific value to the relational variables which expresses the 'magnitude' of the interrelationships among the state-variables at a specific point in time and space” (1973, p.144).
According to SUTHERLAND, “… a system will be inherently deterministic or inherently stochastic” (p.145). Since he wrote these lines, it as become clear that many systems are inherently deterministic-stochastic in the sense defined by chaos theory. Thus, SUTHERLAND's methodological description is irrestrictly valid only when applied to linear phenomena, but cannot be applied fully to modelize complex systems.