What Are the Challenges of Modeling Small World Networks in Epidemiology?
Despite their utility, modeling small world networks comes with challenges. Accurately mapping real-world networks requires extensive data on individual interactions, which is often difficult to obtain. Moreover, human behavior is dynamic and can change in response to public health interventions or social factors, complicating the modeling process.
Another challenge is the heterogeneity of real-world networks. Not all networks exhibit perfect small world properties; some may have varying degrees of clustering and path lengths, affecting the accuracy of predictions.
