Authors: Ron Weber
Tags: 2003, conceptual modeling
Conceptual modeling is an activity undertaken during information systems development work to build a representation of selected semantics about some real-world domain. Ontological theories have been developed to account for the structure and behavior of the real world in general. In this paper, I discuss why ontological theories can be used to inform conceptual modeling research, practice, and pedagogy. I provide examples from my research to illustrate how a particular ontological theory has enabled me to improve my understanding of certain conceptual modeling practices and grammars. I describe, also, how some colleagues and I have used this theory to generate several counter-intuitive, sometimes surprising predictions about widely advocated conceptual modeling practices – predictions that subsequently were supported in empirical research we undertook. Finally, I discuss several possibilities and pitfalls I perceive to be associated with our using ontological theories to underpin research on conceptual modeling.Read the full paper here: https://www.igi-global.com/journal/journal-database-management
