rewriteIn health care, statistical methods are used to address a wide variety of questions. During the first half of the 20th century, mathematical theory was the cornerstone of evaluating traditional statistical methods addressing well-defined problems. However, to answer questions in modern medicine, more complex statistical modeling or the use of machine learning techniques is often required. A simulation study is useful if theoretical arguments are insufficient to determine whether the method of interest is valid in a specific real-life application or whether violations of the assumptions underlying the available theory affect the validity of the results