Evaluation of the Ontological Completeness and Clarity of Object-Oriented Conceptual Modelling Grammars

SeveralresearchstudieshaveconcludedthatmodellinggrammarsthatsupporttheObject-Oriented (OO)methodologyfocusmoreonmodellingsystemdesignandimplementationphenomenathan real-worldphenomenainISusers’domains.Thus,thepurposeofthisresearchstudywastoevaluate thesuitabilityofOOmodellinggrammarsforconceptualmodelling.Althoughtheresearchwork focusedononewidelyusedOOmodellinggrammar—namely, theUnifiedModellingLanguage (UML)—theapproachdevelopedcanbeapplied toanyOOmodellinggrammar.Thefirstphase ofthisresearchstudyfocusedonevaluatingallUMLconstructsandidentifyingasubsetofUML constructsthatarecapableofrepresentingreal-worldphenomenainuserdomains.Thesecondphase wasanempiricalevaluationoftheidentifiedsubsetofUMLconstructs.Theresultsofthisempirical evaluationsuggestthatinsteadofusingallUMLconstructsthesubsetofUMLconstructsisbetter suitedforconceptualmodelling. KEywORDS Bunge-Wand-Weber (BWW) Ontology, Canonical Action Research (CAR), Conceptual Modelling, Ontological Completeness and Clarity, OO Modelling Grammars, UML

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