Goodness of fit for stochastic actor-oriented models

We propose a Mahalanobis distance–based Monte Carlo goodness of fit testing procedure for the family of stochastic actor-oriented models for social network evolution. A modified model distance estimator is proposed to help the researcher identify model extensions that will remediate poor fit. A limited simulation study is provided to establish baseline legitimacy for the Mahalanobis distance–based Monte Carlo test and modified model distance estimator. A forward model selection workflow is proposed, and this procedure is demonstrated on a real data set.