Ontological Meta-Analysis and Synthesis

We present ontological meta-analysis and synthesis as a method for reviewing, mapping, and visualizing the research literature in a domain cumulatively, logically, systematically, and systemically. The method highlights a domain’s bright spots that have been heavily studied, the light spots that have been lightly studied, the blind spots that have been overlooked, and the blank spots that have not been studied. It highlights the biases in a domain’s research; the research can then be realigned to make it stronger and more effective. We illustrate the method using the emerging domain of public health informatics (PHI). We present an ontological framework for the domain, map the literature onto the framework, and highlight its bright, light, and blind/blank spots. We also present detailed analyses using the ontological maps of dyads and triads. We conclude by discussing how (a) the results can be used to realign PHI research, and (b) the method can be used in other information systems domains

Ontological Meta-Analysis and Synthesis

We present ontological meta-analysis and synthesis as a method for reviewing, mapping, and visualizing the research literature in a domain cumulatively, logically, systematically, and systemically. The method will highlight the domain’s bright spots which are heavily emphasized, the light spots which are lightly emphasized, the blank spots which are not emphasized, and the blind spots which have been overlooked. It will highlight the biases and asymmetries in the domain’s research; the research can then be realigned to make it stronger and more effective. We illustrate the method using the emerging domain of Public Health Informatics (PHI). We present an ontological framework for the domain, map the literature onto the framework, and highlight its bright, light, and blank/blind spots. We conclude with a discussion of how (a) the results can be used to realign PHI research, and (b) the method can be used in other information systems domains

ONTOLOGICAL META-ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS OF HIPAA

We present ontological meta-analysis and synthesis of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) as a method for reviewing, mapping, and visualizing the research literature in the domain cumulatively, logically, systematically, and systemically. The method will highlight the domain\u27s bright spots which are heavily emphasized, the light spots which are lightly emphasized, the blind spots which have been overlooked, and the blank spots which may never be emphasized. It will highlight the biases and asymmetries in the domain\u27s research; the research can then be realigned to make it stronger and more effective. We present an ontology for HIPAA, map the literature onto the ontology, and highlight its bright, light, and blank/blind spots in an ontological map. We conclude with a discussion of how such a map can be used to realign HIPAA research and practice

Introduction to the Special Issue: The Literature Review in Information Systems

There has been a flowering of scholarly interest in the literature review as a research method in the information systems discipline. We feel privileged to contribute to this conversation and introduce the work of the authors represented in this special issue. Some of the highlights include three new methods for conducting literature analysis and guidelines, tutorials, and approaches for coping with some of the challenges involved in carrying out a literature review. Of the three “new method” papers, one (ontological meta-analysis and synthesis) is entirely new, and two (stylized facts and critical discourse analysis) are novel in the information systems context. The other four paper address more general issues: the challenges of effective search strategies when confronted with the burgeoning volume of research available, a detailed tool-supported approach for conducting a rigorous review, a detailed tutorial for conducting a qualitative literature review, and a discussion of quality issues. Collectively, the papers place emphasis beyond the traditional “narrative synthesis” on the importance of selecting the appropriate approach for the research context and the importance of attention to quality and transparency at all stages of the process, regardless of which approach is adopted

Ontology of Strategic Information Systems Planning

Strategically planning and aligning information systems is still one the most challenging IT tasks for organizations. Literature has contributed to describe and analyze the phenomena labeling the process of Strategic Information Systems Planning (SISP) as the one that pursues the alignment of the IS/IT initiatives to achieve business goals. Statistics reveal, however, that those goals are significantly not being achieved, leaving the discussion open to know whether the SISP models, frameworks and methods are correct, complete, applicable, feasible or not. In order to understand and visualize the potential gaps and biases in the SISP literature, the paper introduces an ontology of the SISP process that allows systematically and symmetrically expand study to contribute to maturation of the scientific field as well as to identify the critical omissions within it. Later, the ontological analysis will allow the visualization of bright, light, and blind/blank areas of knowledge documented on SISP

An Ontology of Megaprojects

Megaprojects are symbolic milestones of human history. From the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Great Wall of China to the Hoover Dam and the Manhattan Project, history is marked by an array of megaprojects. Some megaprojects are born out of necessity while others showcase power and status of individuals, groups, or countries. Most megaprojects are one-of-a-kind endeavors to which traditional project management principles are neither applicable nor suitable, rendering the holistic study of megaprojects especially difficult. Regardless of the recent uptick in research on megaprojects there is no systemic framework that can help systematically assess and guide megaprojects and megaproject research. In the absence of such a framework there is a significant risk of bias in planning the projects and the topics researched. In this paper, we present an ontology of megaprojects and discuss how it can help analyze individual megaprojects and synthesize the corpus of megaproject research

Automated Knowledge Extraction from IS Research Articles Combining Sentence Classification and Ontological Annotation

Manually analyzing large collections of research articles is a time- and resource-intensive activity, making it difficult to stay on top of the latest research findings. Limitations of automated solutions lie in limited domain knowledge and not being able to attribute extracted key terms to a focal article, related work, or background information. We aim to address this challenge by (1) developing a framework for classifying sentences in scientific publications, (2) performing several experiments comparing state-of-the-art sentence transformer algorithms with a novel few-shot learning technique and (3) automatically analyzing a corpus of articles and evaluating automated knowledge extraction capabilities. We tested our approach for combining sentence classification with ontological annotations on a manually created dataset of 1,000 sentences from Information Systems (IS) articles. The results indicate a high degree of accuracy underlining the potential for novel approaches in analyzing scientific publication

A Systematic Assessment Framework for Higher-Education Institutions

The multiple criteria of ranking, rating and accrediting the higher education institutions in India and across globe have become de facto lens for viewing the institutions. There is an increasing number of assessment systems carried down by multiple agencies, with the public policy emphasis on higher education institutions getting assessed, it is necessary to use a systematic and systemic framework that is comprehensive for assessment. For this purpose, the paper proposes an ontological framework for assessment of higher education institutions.  The ontology’s dimensions, sub-dimensions, and their constituent elements are derived from higher-education assessment systems that are well known globally and in India. The framework can help higher-education institutions: (a) assess themselves systemically and systematically; (b) highlight the bright, light, blind, and blank spots in their performance; and (c) correct their trajectory to fulfil their vision. Such framework would assist in identifying the gaps and pathways to improve their position in assessments.Anilkumar, M.; Singai, C.; Ramaprasad, A. (2020). A Systematic Assessment Framework for Higher-Education Institutions. En 6th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'20). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. (30-05-2020):527-534. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAd20.2020.11102OCS52753430-05-202

Australia's national health programs: An ontological mapping

Australia has a large number of health program initiatives whose comprehensive assessment will help refine and redefine priorities by highlighting areas of emphasis, under-emphasis, and non-emphasis. The objectives of our research are to: (a) systematically map all the programs onto an ontological framework, and (b) systemically analyse their relative emphases at different levels of granularity. We mapped all the health program initiatives onto an ontology with five dimensions, namely: (a) Policy-scope, (b) Policy-focus, (c) Outcomes, (d) Type of care, and (e) Population served. Each dimension is expanded into a taxonomy of its constituent elements. Each combination of elements from the five dimensions is a possible policy initiative component. There are 30,030 possible components encapsulated in the ontology. It includes, for example: (a) National financial policies on accessibility of preventive care for family, and (b) Local-urban regulatory policies on cost of palliative care for individual-aged. Four of the authors mapped all of Australia's health programs and initiatives on to the ontology. Visualizations of the data are used to highlight the relative emphases in the program initiatives. The dominant emphasis of the program initiatives is: [National] [educational, personnel-physician, information] policies on [accessibility, quality] of [preventive, wellness] care for the [community]. However, although (a) information is emphasized technology is not and (b) accessibility and quality are emphasized cost, satisfaction, and quality are not. The ontology and the results of the mapping can help systematically reassess and redirect the relative emphases of the programs and initiatives from a systemic perspective