Practitioner perceptions on the use of some semantic concepts in the entity–relationship model

Hitchman, Steve

doi:10.1057/ejis.1995.4

Cited by 32 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Practitioners report that conceptual modeling is difficult and that it often falls into disuse within their organizations. Experimental research (Batra et al 1990, Goldstein and Storey 1990, Prietula and March 1991 and survey research (Batra and Marakas 1995, Hitchman 1995, Maier 1996 confirm these views.…”

Section: Background and Motivationmentioning

confidence: 79%

Research Commentary: Information Systems and Conceptual Modeling—A Research Agenda

Wand

Weber

2002

Information Systems Research

525

325

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W ithin the information systems field, the task of conceptual modeling involves building a representation of selected phenomena in some domain. High-quality conceptualmodeling work is important because it facilitates early detection and correction of system development errors. It also plays an increasingly important role in activities like business process reengineering and documentation of best-practice data and process models in enterprise resource planning systems. Yet little research has been undertaken on many aspects of conceptual modeling. In this paper, we propose a framework to motivate research that addresses the following fundamental question: How can we model the world to better facilitate our developing, implementing, using, and maintaining more valuable information systems? The framework comprises four elements: conceptual-modeling grammars, conceptual-modeling methods, conceptual-modeling scripts, and conceptual-modeling contexts. We provide examples of the types of research that have already been undertaken on each element and illustrate research opportunities that exist. (Conceptual Modeling; Information Systems Development; Ontology)

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Section: Background and Motivationmentioning

confidence: 79%

Research Commentary: Information Systems and Conceptual Modeling—A Research Agenda

Wand

Weber

2002

Information Systems Research

525

325

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Hitchman (1995), for instance, noted that the perceived usability of the entity-relationship (ER) modeling grammar, an important modeling grammar for database design, is dependent on the user perceptions about its real-world semantics, and only loosely coupled to analytical criteria such as complexity. Also, Krogstie et al (2006) stress the importance of perceived semantic quality (in terms of perceived completeness and perceived validity) to process modeling quality, and note (p. 98) that user perceptions are typically the only feasible way of evaluating semantic quality -which is the interest in our study.…”

Section: Ontological Deficiencies Of Bpmnmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ontological deficiencies of process modeling in practice

Recker

Indulska

Rosemann

et al. 2010

European Journal of Information Systems

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“…6,10,17,33]. However field studies show that in practice, ER models are poorly understood by users, and in most cases are not developed with direct user involvement [21,22]. Experimental studies also show that comprehension of data models is very poor and that a large percentage of data model components are not understood [40].…”

Section: The Entity Relationship (Er) Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive Load Effects on End User Understanding of Conceptual Models: An Experimental Analysis

Moody

2004

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

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Abstract. According to Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), presenting information in a way that cognitive load falls within the limitations of working memory can improve speed and accuracy of understanding, and facilitate deep understanding of information content. This paper describes a laboratory experiment which investigates the effects of reducing cognitive load on end user understanding of conceptual models. Participants were all naïve users, and were given a data model consisting of almost a hundred entities, which corresponds to the average-sized data model encountered in practice. One group was given the model in standard Entity Relationship (ER) form and the other was given the same model organised into cognitively manageable "chunks". The reduced cognitive load representation was found to improve comprehension and verification accuracy by more than 50%, though conflicting results were found for time taken. The practical significance of this research is that it shows that managing cognitive load can improve end user understanding of conceptual models, which will help reduce requirements errors. The theoretical significance is that it provides a theoretical insight into the effects of complexity on understanding of conceptual models, which have previously been unexplored. The research findings have important design implications for all conceptual modelling notations.

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Practitioner perceptions on the use of some semantic concepts in the entity–relationship model

Cited by 32 publications

References 11 publications

Research Commentary: Information Systems and Conceptual Modeling—A Research Agenda

Research Commentary: Information Systems and Conceptual Modeling—A Research Agenda

The ontological deficiencies of process modeling in practice

Cognitive Load Effects on End User Understanding of Conceptual Models: An Experimental Analysis

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