................. is the role of simulation software.
Creating virtual models for experimentation
Simulation software builds a working computational model of a real system and then runs that model under conditions the researcher sets. The researcher changes a parameter, re-runs the model and observes what the system does — an experiment performed on the representation rather than on the thing itself.
This is used exactly where real experimentation is impossible, unsafe, too slow or too costly: crash testing a vehicle design, flying an aircraft configuration, modelling an epidemic's spread, stress-testing a bridge, or projecting a climate scenario over decades. So the role is creating virtual models for experimentation.
Collecting primary data is field work — the data come from respondents, instruments or observation of the real world. Simulation output is model-generated, so it is not primary data at all.
Conducting surveys is the job of survey tools such as online questionnaire platforms, which gather responses from human participants; a simulation has no respondents.
Writing research papers is handled by word processors, reference managers and typesetting systems, which organise and format text rather than model a system's behaviour.
Hence the role of simulation software is creating virtual models for experimentation.
