What best reduces the risk of poor results when building a simulation model?

• A. Exercising good judgment in development and following verification and validation steps.
• B. Increasing model complexity without checks.
• C. Using a single random seed
• D. Removing input data

Answer: (A)

Reliability in a simulation comes from disciplined development together with formal verification and validation. Exercising good judgment in development means clearly defining what the model is supposed to do, choosing an appropriate level of detail, documenting assumptions, and building the model carefully. Verification checks that the model is implemented correctly—the equations, logic, data flows, and numerical methods work as intended and results are reproducible. Validation checks that the model behaves like the real system by comparing outputs to real data, calibrating when needed, and conducting sensitivity and scenario analyses. When these steps are followed throughout the process, errors are caught early, biases are reduced, and the results are credible and interpretable, which lowers the risk of poor outcomes.

Why the other ideas don’t fit as well: adding complexity without checks tends to hide mistakes and produce unstable results; a single random seed limits exploration of variability and can give a false sense of precision; removing input data eliminates the foundation the model needs to produce meaningful outputs.