Project Details
Projekt
Hierarchical Taxonomies and Taxonomy Visualization: Methodological Extensions for Information Systems Research
Subject Area
Operations Management and Computer Science for Business Administration
Term
since 2025
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 566400647
Taxonomies allow the systematic classification of objects. Researchers use taxonomies to ensure that existing or newly created knowledge can be applied to all objects in a given class. By helping to improve our fundamental understanding of novel phenomena, and by providing a starting point for theory building, taxonomies are particularly important for the Information Systems (IS) discipline, which is dedicated to supporting the formative role played by innovations based on novel digital technologies in the digitalization of business and society.IS research has focused on a specific type of taxonomy in which objects are categorized on the basis of multiple dimensions (facets) with mutually exclusive characteristics. The focus on these so-called faceted taxonomies is based on the flexibility with regard to the variety of perspectives on a topic that is meant to be represented and on the availability of a suitable methodological basis for their development, which is based on mixed-methods approaches. For the development and evaluation of hierarchical taxonomies – another important type of taxonomy – a corresponding methodological basis is not yet available, although hierarchical taxonomies have numerous untapped potentials (e.g., they facilitate the reuse of constructs at different levels of abstraction and increase the possibility of the theoretical integration of existing taxonomies). In addition, methodological gaps have been identified regarding the type of knowledge representation enabled by a taxonomy. In the literature, a variety of possible visualization types are used, but their selection is largely ad hoc and thus not necessarily appropriate. As a result, the potential benefits of taxonomies are often not fully realized in their application.The proposed project addresses these methodological limitations based on the design science research paradigm. The project's objectives are twofold: (1) to establish methodological foundations for the development and evaluation of hierarchical taxonomies, and (2) to generate prescriptive knowledge in the form of design principles that facilitate the selection of the most appropriate visualizations of faceted and hierarchical taxonomies. To achieve these objectives, this research project draws on established theoretical foundations from a variety of fields, including design science research, method engineering, replication research, conceptual modeling, multilevel analysis, object-oriented modeling, ontology development, and cognitive research, and synergistically combines methods (e.g., expert interviews, qualitative content analysis, and experiments) based on a mixed-methods approach. It is anticipated that the results of this research will contribute to the expansion of the methodological foundations in both IS and related disciplines.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
International Connection
USA
Cooperation Partners
Professor Robert C. Nickerson, Ph.D.; Professor Upkar Varshney, Ph.D.
