UNIVERSITÄT HOHENHEIM Theory-based Knowledge Acquisition for Ontology Development A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences of the University of Hohenheim in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Economics (Dr. oec.) by Andreas Scheuermann July 2016 Principal advisor: Prof. Dr. Stefan Kirn Co-advisor: Prof. Dr. Ralph Bergmann Chair of the examination committee: Prof. Dr. Christian Ernst Dean: Prof. Dr. Dirk Hachmeister Date of oral examination: 7. July 2016 Abstract iii Abstract This thesis concerns the problem of knowledge acquisition in ontology development. Knowledge acquisition is essential for developing useful ontologies but it is a complex and error-prone task. When capturing specific knowledge about a particular domain of interest, the problem of knowledge acquisition occurs due to linguistic, cognitive, modelling, and methodical difficulties. For overcoming these four difficulties, this research proposes a theory-based knowledge acquisition method. By studying the knowledge base, basic terms and concepts in the areas of ontology, ontology development, and knowledge acquisition are defined. A theoretical analysis of knowledge acquisition identifies linguistic, cognitive, modelling, and methodical difficulties, for which a survey of 15 domain ontologies provides further empirical evidence. A review of existing knowledge acquisition approaches shows their insufficiencies for reducing the problem of knowledge acquisition. As the underpinning example, a description of the domain of transport chains is provided. Correspondingly, a theory in business economics, i.e. the Contingency Approach, is selected. This theory provides the key constructs, relationships, and dependencies that can guide knowledge acquisition in the business domain and, thus, theoretically substantiate knowledge acquisition. Method construction uses an approach from the field of Method Engineering, which defines how to develop a tailored method with respect to specific requirements on method design, functionality, components, and the underlying assumptions. The development of the method for theory-based knowledge acquisition covers the specification of the (method and outcome) metamodel, activity model, outcomes, roles, and techniques. The evaluation comprises two descriptive approaches to demonstrate the proposed method’s utility. First, a criteria-based approach evaluates the method with respect to design-related, functional, and component-related requirements. Second, a scenario-based evaluation applies the method within a scenario from the domain of intermodal transport chains for acquiring knowledge to build a domain ontology. The contribution of this research is a theory-based knowledge acquisition method for ontology development. The application and usefulness of this method is demonstrated for a particular domain (transport chains) and uses a particular theory of business economics (the Contingency Approach). iv Acknowledgements Acknowledgements In the first place, I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Stefan Kirn as my supervisor and as a first reviewer. Prof. Kirn offered me the opportunity to work for a doctoral degree after my graduation. He provided the framework conditions and gave me the necessary freedom to carry out my research. I am very grateful for that. I would also like to thank Prof. Dr. Ralph Bergmann from the University of Trier who, without hesitation, accepted the request to serve on the examination committee as a second reviewer. Many thanks to Prof. Dr. Christian Ernst from the University of Hohenheim who served on the examination committee as chairman. Additionally, I am grateful to all the members of the Department of Information Systems 2 for the excellent and friendly working atmosphere. Particularly, I would like to thank Dr. Joerg Leukel for his support and insightful comments and feedback on my thesis. Many thanks also to my former colleagues for the lively discussions on research topics and beyond. Also, many thanks to the project management and technical team members for their support. Similarly, I would like to thank all project1 partners and collaborators. In particular, I would like to mention my colleagues from the University of Leipzig and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. During my doctoral studies, I spend three months at the Knowledge Media Institute (KMi) at the Open University and was privileged to work with Prof. Dr. Enrico Motta and Dr. Mathieu d’Aquin. Many thanks for this collaboration, which was very valuable for me and my research. Last but not least, I would express my great thanks and gratitude to my family. My parents Elisabeth and Paul as well as my brother Stefan have supported me at all time in every respect. Mostly, I am eternally grateful to my wife Kathrin. 1 InterLogGrid – Intermodal Logistics and IT Services (funding code: 01IG09010E) Dedicated to Kathrin vi Outline Outline Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................ vii List of Figures ............................................................................................................................. xii List of Tables .............................................................................................................................. xiv List of Acronyms .......................................................................................................................... xv 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Motivation ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Research Approach .......................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Methodology .................................................................................................................... 3 1.4 Thesis Structure ............................................................................................................... 4 2 State-of-the-Art ....................................................................................................................... 5 2.1 Definitions and Assumptions ........................................................................................... 5 2.2 Problem Analysis ........................................................................................................... 25 2.3 Existing Knowledge Acquisition Methods .................................................................... 42 3 Requirements ........................................................................................................................ 72 3.1 Domain Description ....................................................................................................... 72 3.2 Theory Selection ............................................................................................................ 79 3.3 Model Selection ............................................................................................................. 88 3.4 Requirements Deduction ............................................................................................... 95 4 Design .................................................................................................................................. 100 4.1 Approach ...................................................................................................................... 100 4.2 Requirements Definition and Assumptions ................................................................. 102 4.3 Method Development .................................................................................................. 106 5 Evaluation ........................................................................................................................... 126 5.1 Approach ...................................................................................................................... 126 5.2 Criteria-based Evaluation ............................................................................................ 128 5.3 Scenario-based Evaluation ........................................................................................... 134 6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 157 6.1 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 157 6.2 Limitations and Future Research ................................................................................. 157 Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. xvii Appendices.............................................................................................................................. xxxix Table of Contents vii Table of Contents Table of Contents .........................................................................................................................vii List of Figures ..............................................................................................................................xii List of Tables ..............................................................................................................................