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The Merits of Transparent Models

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Behavioral Operational Research

Abstract

Models offer many services, of which ‘intermediate services’ are often neglected but nevertheless, we will argue, very useful for Operational Research. Examples of intermediate services of models are to provide insights, platforms for further discussion, and coherent stories, all of which allow practical and theoretical work to accumulate and continue. We argue that models which are transparent are more likely to deliver useful intermediate services than models which appear to be black boxes to practitioners or academics. The argument entails two points: (1) a definition of model transparency in behavioral sciences such as economics and psychology and its adjustment for Operational Research and (2) a discussion of some particular applications of behavioral models in Operational Research, which reveals the merits of transparency.

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Correspondence to Konstantinos V. Katsikopoulos .

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Katsikopoulos, K.V. (2020). The Merits of Transparent Models. In: White, L., Kunc, M., Burger, K., Malpass, J. (eds) Behavioral Operational Research. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25405-6_14

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