Abstract
PurposeThe open science movement calls for transparent and retraceable research processes. While infrastructures to support these practices in qualitative research are lacking, the design needs to consider different approaches and workflows. The paper bases on the definition of ontologies as shared conceptualizations of knowledge (Borst, 1999). The authors argue that participatory design is a good way to create these shared conceptualizations by giving domain experts and future users a voice in the design process via interviews, workshops and observations.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents a novel approach for creating ontologies in the field of open science using participatory design. As a case study the creation of an ontology for qualitative coding schemas is presented. Coding schemas are an important result of qualitative research, and reuse can yield great potential for open science making qualitative research more transparent, enhance sharing of coding schemas and teaching of qualitative methods. The participatory design process consisted of three parts: a requirement analysis using interviews and an observation, a design phase accompanied by interviews and an evaluation phase based on user tests as well as interviews.FindingsThe research showed several positive outcomes due to participatory design: higher commitment of users, mutual learning, high quality feedback and better quality of the ontology. However, there are two obstacles in this approach: First, contradictive answers by the interviewees, which needs to be balanced; second, this approach takes more time due to interview planning and analysis.Practical implicationsThe implication of the paper is in the long run to decentralize the design of open science infrastructures and to involve parties affected on several levels.Originality/valueIn ontology design, several methods exist by using user-centered design or participatory design doing workshops. In this paper, the authors outline the potentials for participatory design using mainly interviews in creating an ontology for open science. The authors focus on close contact to researchers in order to build the ontology upon the expert's knowledge.
Highlights
While Gruber (1995) defines ontologies as an “explicit specification of a conceptualization” and Borst (1999) as a shared conceptualization, Studer et al (1998) combine these definitions: “An ontology is a formal, explicit specification of a shared conceptualization.” For the design of an ontology, this definition brings articulation, sharing and agreement of processes to the fore rather than only technological aspects.This paper presents the application of a participatory design approach to ontology design and argues for a high potential in the creation of ontologies, where a shared conceptualization does not exist yet and has to be built from scratch
4.1 Preliminary results of applying a participatory design process This chapter discusses the applicability of the participatory ontology design and the experiences made during the research process
Based on this experience, it can be claimed that participatory design in ontology engineering has a huge potential, more research is needed in order to validate the methods and the ideas better
Summary
While Gruber (1995) defines ontologies as an “explicit specification of a conceptualization” and Borst (1999) as a shared conceptualization, Studer et al (1998) combine these definitions: “An ontology is a formal, explicit specification of a shared conceptualization.” For the design of an ontology, this definition brings articulation, sharing and agreement of processes to the fore rather than only technological aspects.This paper presents the application of a participatory design approach to ontology design and argues for a high potential in the creation of ontologies, where a shared conceptualization does not exist yet and has to be built from scratch. Other potentials are mutual learning, increased acceptance and a higher quality input when involving users actively in the process via the use of prototypes at different stages of the development, as well as a user-centered evaluation Because of this potential, participatory ontology design can suitably be applied in the field of open science, where transparency and traceability is called for in terms of implicit research practices (see Fecher and Fisieke, 2014). Participatory ontology design can suitably be applied in the field of open science, where transparency and traceability is called for in terms of implicit research practices (see Fecher and Fisieke, 2014) This concerns the creation of an ontology for qualitative coding schemas. An ontology is the first step to enhance a platform for the sharing of qualitative coding schemas
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
