Do Ontological Guidelines Improve Understandability of Conceptual Models? A Meta-analysis of Empirical Work

Conceptual models are used to understand information systems application domains and to communicate about them in order to better understand system requirements. Conceptual models are required to represent relevant aspects of the modeled domain faithfully, and be understandable. The use of ontological theories has been proposed to guide the creation of effective models. Specifically, Bunge´s ontology has been applied to guide the use of the ERM, the UML, and business process grammars. However, because the choice of ontology reflects beliefs, and model understanding involves human cognition, whether or not ontological guidance results in better models is an empirical question. Several empirical works studied this issue, differing in grammars, modeling aspects, empirical tasks, and measures. We report a meta-analysis of published empirical research about the impact of ontological guidance based on Bunge´s model, and user understanding of conceptual models. The results support the proposition that ontological guidance can improve model understandability.