In this paper, we present a method by which to build a metaphorical map of a portion of the scholarly literature along conceptual dimensions that have been previously characterized in terms of positive, negative and neutral terms. The method allows to "locate" scholarly works in this space, according to multiple criteria, like the definitions that they contain; the relevant concepts that can be extracted by means of a content analysis; and relevant passages that researchers can extract in studying their content. The resulting maps are not representational, nor trying to extract any objective essence of a scientific contribution. Rather, they are resources for the qualitative research, review and interpretation of literature sources. As such, these maps are "knowledge artifacts" in themselves, as they visualize, so to say, the interpretation of a set of works by qualitative researchers, and allow to build a visual comprehension of topological and qualitative relationships between the considered literature contributions. We applied the method to the case of the "knowledge artifact" literature and report the main results in this paper.

Mapping the knowledge artifact terrain: A quantitative resource for qualitative research

Locoro A.
2015-01-01

Abstract

In this paper, we present a method by which to build a metaphorical map of a portion of the scholarly literature along conceptual dimensions that have been previously characterized in terms of positive, negative and neutral terms. The method allows to "locate" scholarly works in this space, according to multiple criteria, like the definitions that they contain; the relevant concepts that can be extracted by means of a content analysis; and relevant passages that researchers can extract in studying their content. The resulting maps are not representational, nor trying to extract any objective essence of a scientific contribution. Rather, they are resources for the qualitative research, review and interpretation of literature sources. As such, these maps are "knowledge artifacts" in themselves, as they visualize, so to say, the interpretation of a set of works by qualitative researchers, and allow to build a visual comprehension of topological and qualitative relationships between the considered literature contributions. We applied the method to the case of the "knowledge artifact" literature and report the main results in this paper.
2015
IC3K 2015 - Proceedings of the 7th International Joint Conference on Knowledge Discovery, Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management
9789897581588
7th International Joint Conference on Knowledge Discovery, Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management, IC3K 2015
Lisbon, Portugal
November 12-14, 2015
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11383/2119334
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