Examples step 2

Competency questions example

One way to start modeling with the user in mind is to collect to so-called user stories and/or competency questions. Competency questions are questions that the metadata model should be able to answer. In simpler terms, they represent the question: What would you like to search for in the catalogue?

From such user stories and competency questions specific metadata elements can be extracted. Below we provide some examples.

User story

“A researcher in neurology requires MRI scans of patients taken over a span of years, ideally both from patients who eventually developed Alzheimer's disease and those who did not. These longitudinal datasets can help to trace the progression and potential early signs of the disease. The researcher turns to the National Health Data Catalogue that hosts a vast array of medical imaging data from various hospitals and research institutions.”

Competency questions

As a researcher in neurology, using the national catalogue, I would like to:​

1. Filter datasets that only contain MRI scans, ensuring that I am looking at the right type of imaging data;

2. Among MRI scans, refine my search search to only include datasets with brain imaging, excluding other parts of the body;

3. See datasets spanning the last 20 years;

4. Filter on datasets that are not only about Alzheimer’s disease, but on neurodegenerative diseases in general.

Metadata requirements

From the user story and competency questions a number of metadata elements can be extracted, for example:

• The first question refers to metadata about the imaging modality. In this case, only MRI scans but not CT or PET scans;

• The second question points to metadata about the body part. In this case, the brain;

• The third questions points to metadata about time period;

• The fourth questions points to metadata about the health theme or disease domain.

Such requirements are input for subsequent analysis. In brief, whereas imaging modality is very likely to be imaging domain specific, body part, time period and health theme are expected to be much more general. For eventual domain-specific modeling, it is important to further think about what to capture regarding imaging modality; and to discuss with the Health-RI hub what is or should be part of the generic Health-RI core/health metadata schema.

Other examples of imaging competency questions (CQ) and some extracted requirements

Example of Omics competency questions

References

A goal-oriented method for FAIRification planning | Research Square

Use of Competency Questions in Ontology Engineering: A Survey | SpringerLink

http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-34847-6_3