Data Request Ideation (Phase II)- Power World

Topcoder is working with a group of researchers that are competing to understand a series of simulated environments.   There are four of these environments: Urban World, Conflict World, Power World, and Disaster World. Each “world” is defined by a set of data but the full range of possible variables used to develop the simulated worlds isn’t disclosed to working groups in advance.  The research teams have to propose and request useful data and then justify how it would be collected in the target environment.

This is the beginning of Phase 2, and we are looking for more research requests which can be valuable in a better understating of the Power world and building a better model.

In this challenge, we’re asking the Topcoder Community to review the research requests that have been previously submitted by the research team for the Power World and to suggest additional variables that should be considered/included in the analysis of these simulated worlds.  If you had to model the behavior of agents in this environment what would you want to know? And crucially, how would you obtain that information?

Prizes:
For this challenge, we’ll be paying a $150 for each relevant variable and associated collection method that the research team wants to include in their research requests.���

We’re attaching 5 documents to this challenge:
 

1. Power World Introduction- This contains basic information about the power World.
2. Data Description - This document outlines the world parameters at a high level and the data that has been already provided. It also details about each field.
3. Power World Requests (Phase I)- This document is a compilation of all the previous research requests and questions for Phase I.  
4. Power World Requests (Phase II) - This document is a compilation of all the previous research requests and questions for Phase II.
5. Ideation Result of Previous Challenge- These are the Research Requests which were accepted in the previous challenge. Please do not repeat these requests in your solutions. This will not be counted as a valid solution.

The following research requests have been approved and the Power World team has been provided with data for the following research request and questions:
 

TA2A-TA1B-0351 - This talks about the impact of different groups on the social system.

TA2A-TA1B-0331 - This talks about more of financial health and journals. This also carries over the idea of how agents are participating in surveys and how many events they are part of (like as mentioned visiting people and people visiting them).
 

Please go through the approved/already made research requests thoroughly and come up with some exciting and innovative research requests which can help in understanding the Power world better and help in the prediction challenges which will be launched later after the completion of this challenge.

Final Submission Guidelines

Evaluation Criteria 

This challenge will be subjectively evaluated.   But we’ll be using the following criteria to evaluate your suggestions: 

1. Originality - Your suggestion for a variable isn’t helpful if is has been previously suggested in the Power World Request Document or has already been provided.

2. The practicality of Collection Method - In addition to suggesting data, a constraint that our team is under is the ability to collect the data.  Note that in the research requests, the collection methodology is specified. Please include this.

3. Relevance - Fundamentally, we’re trying to model the movement of agents around these regions to determine whether they will evacuate in the face of danger.  The suggested variables should inform this analysis. Please describe how the proposed variable would be used in modeling this environment.

 

Submission

 Please submit an excel document with the following columns:

1. Variable Name
2. Description 
3. Collection Method
4. Analytical Value/Usage

 

Prizes:
For this challenge, we’ll be paying a $150 for each relevant variable and associated collection method that the research team wants to include in their research requests.