PHENOMENON (Model building of a) 2)3)
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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.
Categories
- 1) General information
- 2) Methodology or model
- 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
- 4) Human sciences
- 5) Discipline oriented
Publisher
Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science(2020).
To cite this page, please use the following information:
Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (2020). Title of the entry. In Charles François (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics (2). Retrieved from www.systemspedia.org/[full/url]
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