Towards the Reconstruction and Evaluation of Conceptual Model Quality Discourses - Methodical Framework and Application in the Context of Model Understandability

Within the information systems (IS) discipline conceptual models have gained tremendous importance in the past years. Different approaches for systematic model quality evaluation have emerged. However, these approaches are based on different understandings, definitions as well as operationalizations of the term “model quality”. In this article we refrain from conceptualizing and operationalizing model quality a priori. In contrast, assuming that the determination of model quality and appropriate criteria are negotiated in a discourse between modelers and model users based on their different perspectives, we develop a methodical framework for the critical reconstruction and evaluation of conceptual model quality discourses in order to identify relevant model quality criteria and understandings. Our method is exemplarily applied for the reconstruction of the discourse on the quality criterion model understandability based on relevant laboratory experiments. This application shows that many research results on model understandability are hardly comparable due to their different basic assumptions and should preferably be interpreted based on a methodical reconstruction of underlying understandings.