8.2.2 Development of the Ontology
The ontology was developed in three main steps. First, an initial set of high-level knowledge objects was selected. Second, relationships were created between pairs of these knowledge objects. Both of these steps drew upon four sources of information: (1) an initial set of elements underlying the choice and design of the techniques being assessed, (2) a content analysis of the interview transcript and knowledge models constructed in the empirical study, (3) analysis of the feedback from the participants on difficulties, gaps and improvements, and (4) ontological elements described in the background literature. The third step added lower-level classes of knowledge objects using material from the interview transcript and knowledge models from the empirical study. In performing the latter step, the initial high-level ontology was modified to maintain consistency with the empirical data that was captured.