An aviation researcher wants to examine the best location for warning lights on an airplane's instrument panel. He varies the location of the lights in the cockpit of a plane. He then has pilots sit in the cockpit, and measures the time it takes for them to respond to the warning lights. This research procedure would illustrate

The correct answer is a simulation.

Computer simulation of systems, or just simulation, consists of the use of certain mathematical techniques, used in computers, which allow to imitate the operation of, practically any type of operation or process in the real world, that is, it is the study of the behavior of real systems through the exercise of models.

There are several definitions for the simulation, among which we can quote Pegden (1990) who says "simulation is a process of designing a computational model of a real system and conducting experiments with this model in order to understand its behavior and / or evaluate strategies for its operation ". In this way, we can understand simulation as a broad process that encompasses not only the construction of the model, but the entire experimental method that follows, seeking:

Describe the behavior of the system;

Build theories and hypotheses considering the observations made;

Use the model to predict future behavior, that is, the effects produced by changes in the system or methods used in its operation.