Development and verification of an agent-based model of opinion leadership

Table 3 Parameters and data collection for simulation procedures

Parameter settings for input variables	Results reporting of output variables
Parameter sweep	Count agents:
Number of nurses [50, 100, 200]^a	Not visible
Number of educators [3, 7]	Visible
Mean prior belief [35, 65]	Available to give advice
Mean earned authority [35, 65]	Need advice
Mean motives [35, 65]	Gave advice
Mean evidence [40, 70]	Sought advice
Credibility threshold for giving advice [60, 70, 80]	Revised evidence assessment
Number of iterations [50]	Revised credibility assessment
	Revised beliefs
Individual agent time series [initialization settings]	Variables at each time step
Number of staff nurses [100]^b	Prior belief (revised from previous step)
Number of educators [5]^b	Evidence (newly introduced each step)
Mean prior belief [50]	Credibility (changes based on new beliefs)
Mean earned authority [50]	Assessed evidence
Mean motives [50]	Assessed credibility
Mean evidence [60]	Available to give advice
Credibility threshold for giving advice [65]^b	Need advice
Number of iterations [20]	Gave advice
	Sought advice
	Revised beliefs based evidence
	Revised beliefs based on advice

^aNumbers indicate the values of the variables used in the simulation procedures.
^bVariables held static for each of 20 model executions.

ISSN: 1748-5908