Ontologies in the Behavioral Sciences: Accelerating Research and the Spread of Knowledge (2022)
Chapter: Appendix B: Example Use Cases Generated in a Committee Self-Survey
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Appendix A: Ontological Systems Referenced in the Report
Next Chapter: Appendix C: Biographical Sketches of Committee on Accelerating Behavioral Science through Ontology Development and Use
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix B: Example Use Cases Generated in a Committee Self-Survey." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Ontologies in the Behavioral Sciences: Accelerating Research and the Spread of Knowledge. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26464.
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix B: Example Use Cases Generated in a Committee Self-Survey." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Ontologies in the Behavioral Sciences: Accelerating Research and the Spread of Knowledge. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26464.
| Actor | Context | Expected Goal | Resource | Stakeholder |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A therapist planning treatment | in a mental health clinic | to improve clinical outcomes | using a tool that summarizes all treatments | patients |
| A student reviewing literature | in graduate school | to prepare a dissertation | using an ontology of brain injury | self |
| A parent investigating a child’s problem | at home | to determine whether the problem is serious | using an ontology of symptoms | parent and child |
| A policy maker exploring engagement strategies | during a pandemic | to promote use of masking and social distancing | using an ontology of engagement practices | the general public |
| An elementary school teacher who wants to engage her students | in their classroom | to improve social behavior | using an ontology of social skills | their students |
| A pediatrician reviewing research | in a doctor’s office | to offer guidance on better sleep | using a search tool on sleep problems | patients |
| A medical clinician | in a clinical setting | to provide a diagnosis and treatment plan | using an ontology of symptoms and disorders | other clinicians and patients |
| Clinical researchers | in clinical and research settings | to develop and test behavioral interventions | using an ontology of constructs related to emotional well-being | other clinical researchers, clinicians, and policy makers |
| A cognitive neuroscientist interested in social cognition | in a research setting | to understand the nomological net to understand and organize social cognition | using an ontology of social systems and processes | other neuroscientists and clinical researchers interested in social cognition and mechanism underlying psychopathology |
| A graduate student in clinical psychology | in a clinical or educational setting | to improve knowledge about psychopathology and learn how to diagnose effectively | using an ontology of signs and symptoms of psychopathology | other clinical students and professors |
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix B: Example Use Cases Generated in a Committee Self-Survey." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Ontologies in the Behavioral Sciences: Accelerating Research and the Spread of Knowledge. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26464.
| A program officer at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) | in clinical and research settings | to write requests for proposals that can stimulate the development of brain-informed treatment protocols | using an ontology of brain correlates associated with signs and symptoms of psychopathology | NIH clinical researchers |
| A professor of the philosophy of the human mind | in a research setting | to derive conclusions about consciousness informed by empirical science | using an ontology of validated cognitive constructs | other professors, cognitive neuroscientists, and clinical researchers |
| An officer responsible for helping new immigrants acclimate to a new country | in any setting | to develop a digestible synthesis of available resources that make the process of integrating in a new state or country understandable | through access to Web pages of government or state resources | immigrants |
| Law enforcement officers and lawmakers explaining the rights and responsibilities of individuals in a specific situation at hand (e.g., for voting) | in any setting | to empower citizens to take ownership of the process | with documents detailing the relevant laws | citizens, the general public |
| Financial advisors | in any setting | to educate people about how to best manage money and finances | with documents that codify best practices for managing credit and other aspects of finances | the general public, particularly people from disadvantaged backgrounds |
| A researcher studying a new field | formal or informal education | to develop a synthesis of the documents that gives the researcher a big-picture view of the field and facilitates learning | using sets of documents (books, scientific articles, etc.) chosen by researchers | self |
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix B: Example Use Cases Generated in a Committee Self-Survey." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Ontologies in the Behavioral Sciences: Accelerating Research and the Spread of Knowledge. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26464.
| Actor | Context | Expected Goal | Resource | Stakeholder |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A person learning a new language (e.g., English) | in any setting | to facilitate learning through the organization of key concepts and their relationships in both languages, as well as correspondence between the two | with a dictionary translating to/from person’s mother tongue from/to English | self |
| Mental health counselors | in a clinic or similar setting | to improve patient care with the organization of notes on the patient’s habits/behaviors, how they relate to each other, and how they affect the patient between visits to counselors | with notes taken by the patient or caretakers to monitor behavior and the effect of treatments on a day-to-day basis when away from counselor | patients |
| A behavioral scientist | in a research lab, classroom | Move the field toward greater use of common manipulations, definitions, instruments, constructs, etc. | with a shared set of construct names, definitions, and operationalizations in a specific behavioral science domain (e.g., emotion regulation) | graduate students and fellow researchers |
| Mental health clinicians | in clinical or similar setting | to develop clearer links from models of psychopathology to a priori selected interventions based on established mechanisms of action | with a functional taxonomy of emotion regulation dysfunctions | patients |
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix B: Example Use Cases Generated in a Committee Self-Survey." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Ontologies in the Behavioral Sciences: Accelerating Research and the Spread of Knowledge. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26464.
| The NIH director | in research and administrative settings | to encourage standardization and sharing across research groups and enhance knowledge integration | using reliable and valid classification of topics for behavioral intervention research | funding agencies, Congress, the general public |
| Research foundations | in research and clinical settings | to enhance standardization and sharing across research groups for the increased likelihood of cumulative and synergistic knowledge increase | using a systematic taxonomy of research topics relevant to the foundation’s mission (e.g., anxiety and depressive disorders) | foundation beneficiaries and the public |
| Social scientists | in academia and applied research settings | to identify existing synergies and inconsistencies and encourage cross-disciplinary exploration | using a taxonomy for an overarching construct/domain of knowledge, such as emotion | the social science disciplines broadly construed, both quantitative and interpretive |
| Medical and other children’s experts | at home and in doctors’ offices | to improve communication among experts, patients, and families, to improve children’s mental health | using an ontology of key symptoms and disorders that arise during a pandemic like COVID | parents and their children |
| Health providers | in a waiting room in a hospital or clinic | to improve their knowledge of vaccine and encourage vaccination | using an ontology as a knowledge base for vaccine education and promotion | patients and their guardians |
| Biomedical informaticians | online | to infer possible new hypotheses | using an ontology as a knowledge graph that semantically integrates biomedical knowledge extracted from different sources | scientists |
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix B: Example Use Cases Generated in a Committee Self-Survey." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Ontologies in the Behavioral Sciences: Accelerating Research and the Spread of Knowledge. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26464.
| Actor | Context | Expected Goal | Resource | Stakeholder |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public health researchers | in any setting | to gather information about people’s health beliefs to provide needed interventions | using an ontology as an information model to formally describe health belief models | the general public |
| Nutrition experts | with a mobile app | to help users to manage their diets | using an ontology to model related facts for fast and other food | the general public |
| Public health researchers | in any setting | to ensure semantic interoperability | using an ontology to formally model social determinants of health | public health researchers |
| Information curator | online | to help them navigate the complex world of health information in an organized way | using ontology-structured knowledge of a disease, treatment, outcomes | patients, caregivers, and clinicians |
| Researchers | in publications and research studies | to improve the reusability of an existing dataset and the reproducibility of study results | using annotated datasets with measurements | other researchers |
| Funding agencies | online | to identify key areas where additional research are needed, to bridge the gaps in people’s mental models | using standardized terminology and data resources to guide funding investments and harmonize study results across projects | researchers |
| Researchers, funding agencies, and data producer | online | to produce harmonized datasets that have clear semantic definitions of variables, study designs, and other features | using ontology-based metadata to support semantic integration of different data resources | researchers |
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix B: Example Use Cases Generated in a Committee Self-Survey." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Ontologies in the Behavioral Sciences: Accelerating Research and the Spread of Knowledge. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26464.
| Researchers | online | to standardize and communicate the important blocks of studies to ensure reproducibility | using annotated study designs and executable documentation of studies, such as an ontology-annotated reporting of a study | other researchers |
| Member of the general public | online | to gain insight into possible explanations of symptoms | using an ontology of symptoms and disorders | self or family member |
| Biomedical informatics researchers | doing system development in a lab | for more effective use of ontology in clinical applications | using technical details of ontology construction and access | users of results in applications |
| A health care provider | in a clinical practice | to enhance decision making | with an ontology for underlying clinical decision support | providers and their patients |
| A graduate school instructor on patient safety | in a classroom | to link medical errors to various cognitive factors | using a taxonomy and an ontology of medical errors | graduate students |
| Public health worker | in a community | to enhance public health interventions | using an ontology of public health linking various health-related factors under consideration | the general public and policy makers |
| A behavioral intervention scientist | in clinical trials of behavior change | to understand and change behavior | using an ontology of behavior change components | health care providers |
| A behavior science theorist | in research, literature reviews, and theory proposals | to advance theory | using an ontology of theories of behavior change | graduate students |
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix B: Example Use Cases Generated in a Committee Self-Survey." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Ontologies in the Behavioral Sciences: Accelerating Research and the Spread of Knowledge. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26464.
| Actor | Context | Expected Goal | Resource | Stakeholder |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Policy makers | in health departments | to investigate epidemiological advances in describing the health of the public | using an ontology of human health behavior | the general public |
| A behavioral scientist mentor | in a social behavioral research team | to improve the rigor of proposed studies | using an ontology of behavioral measures | junior scientists |
| A professor who is teaching | in an applied research methods course | to improve knowledge of social/behavioral research | using an ontology of behavioral measures | graduate students |
| An expert panel that has been asked for advice | for future funding announcements | to inform priority research areas | using an ontology of behavioral measures | funding agencies |
| A researcher on health disparities collaborating with other researchers | for an NIH grant proposal | to identify risk and protective factors of health disparities | using an ontology for cultural/ethnic measures of behavior | health care providers |
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix B: Example Use Cases Generated in a Committee Self-Survey." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Ontologies in the Behavioral Sciences: Accelerating Research and the Spread of Knowledge. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26464.
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix B: Example Use Cases Generated in a Committee Self-Survey." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Ontologies in the Behavioral Sciences: Accelerating Research and the Spread of Knowledge. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26464.
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix B: Example Use Cases Generated in a Committee Self-Survey." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Ontologies in the Behavioral Sciences: Accelerating Research and the Spread of Knowledge. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26464.
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix B: Example Use Cases Generated in a Committee Self-Survey." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Ontologies in the Behavioral Sciences: Accelerating Research and the Spread of Knowledge. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26464.
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix B: Example Use Cases Generated in a Committee Self-Survey." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Ontologies in the Behavioral Sciences: Accelerating Research and the Spread of Knowledge. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26464.
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix B: Example Use Cases Generated in a Committee Self-Survey." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Ontologies in the Behavioral Sciences: Accelerating Research and the Spread of Knowledge. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26464.
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix B: Example Use Cases Generated in a Committee Self-Survey." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Ontologies in the Behavioral Sciences: Accelerating Research and the Spread of Knowledge. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26464.
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix B: Example Use Cases Generated in a Committee Self-Survey." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Ontologies in the Behavioral Sciences: Accelerating Research and the Spread of Knowledge. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26464.
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