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What kind of knowledge is needed by information specialists working in a specific subject field like medicine, sociology or music? What approaches have been used in information science to produce kinds of domain‐specific knowledge? This article presents 11 approaches to domain analysis. Together these approaches make a unique competence for information specialists. The approaches are: producing literature guides and subject gateways; producing special classifications and thesauri; research on indexing and retrieving specialities; empirical user studies; bibliometrical studies; historical studies; document and genre studies; epistemological and critical studies; terminological studies, LSP (languages for special purposes), discourse studies; studies of structures and institutions in scientific communication; and domain analysis in professional cognition and artificial intelligence. Specific examples and selective reviews of literature are provided, and the strengths and drawbacks of each of these approaches are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to describe phenomenological approaches to studying entrepreneurs and their behaviors. The goal is to illustrate how phenomenology can provide a complement especially to the cognitive and discursive approaches that are common in the field today.

Conceptual review.

Cognitive and discursive approaches typically seek coherent explanations of entrepreneurial behaviors by grounding them in intra-individual cognitions or extra-individual discourses. Phenomenology on the other hand seeks to capture more fully the richness of individuals’ lived experiences. While some degree of scientific reduction is inevitable in all empirical research, such reduction is also accompanied by the risk of ignoring essential insights, something that has potentially damaging implications for theoretical and meta-theoretical development as well as for practice. Phenomenological methods are thus well suited to develop new insights and to challenge and add nuance to existing, often more normative and structurally oriented, theories.

The review of the literature focusses on representative studies and is therefore not comprehensive.

Research based on a richer appreciation of entrepreneurs’ lived experiences can inform both policy and more directly the design of specific support structures.

Research based on a richer appreciation of entrepreneurs’ lived experiences can inform both policy and more directly the design of specific support structures.

This paper provides a novel discussion of the limitations of cognitive and discursive approaches by relating them to the phenomenological tradition. More generally, it identifies the potential conflict between coherent theoretical explanations and rich appreciation of the entrepreneurial life-world, as a central methodological concern in the entrepreneurship field.

The emerging perspectives of entrepreneurial ecosystems, bricolage and effectuation highlight the interaction between the entrepreneur and the surrounding community, and its potential for creative resource acquisition and utilization. However, empirical work on how this process actually unfolds remains scarce. This paper aims to study the interaction between the opportunity construction process and the development of resources in the surrounding ecosystem.

This paper is a qualitative analysis of the extreme case of Aalto Entrepreneurship Society (Aaltoes), a newly founded organization successfully promoting entrepreneurship within a university merger with virtually no resources, based on interviews of six key contributors and four stakeholder organizations.

The opportunity construction process both supported and was supported by two key resource generating mechanisms. Formulating and opportunistically reformulating the agenda for increasing potential synergy laid the groundwork for mutual benefit. Proactive concretization enhanced both initial resource allocation and sustaining input to the process through offering tangible instances of specific opportunities and feedback.

Although based on a single case study in a university setting, proactive concretization emerges as a promising direction for further investigations of the benefits and dynamics of entrepreneur–ecosystem interaction in the opportunity construction process.

Intentionally creating beneficial entrepreneur–ecosystem interaction and teaching proactive concretization becomes a key goal for educators of entrepreneurship.

The paper extends an understanding of creative resource generation and utilization in the opportunity construction process. The role of proactive concretization was emphasized in the interaction of the entrepreneur and the ecosystem, creating virtuous spirals of entrepreneurial activity.

The purpose of this paper is to report on experiences and reflect on challenges in transdisciplinary technology foresight as exemplified by cognition and robotics research.

The study was conducted as a broad transdisciplinary process involving users and producers of robot technology solutions as well as scientists and other experts in cognition and robotics. Transdisciplinarity is understood as the transcendence of disciplinary modes together with the involvement and participation of non‐scientists in problem formulation and knowledge provision. The study focuses on the possibilities for innovation at the crossroads where robotics and cognition meet.

The paper reflects on the following methodological issues: medium‐ and long‐term research and innovation possibilities and barriers in a transdisciplinary context; the classification and framing of transdisciplinary fields; the facilitation of technology foresight processes; and the trustworthiness of the foresight process and its recommendations.

The results have been disseminated among relevant advisory and grant‐awarding bodies within research and innovation, relevant knowledge institutions and universities, and companies on both the development and user sides of the technologies.

The paper contributes to European experiences on national‐level foresight exercises. The conceptual findings of the case study are of value to science and innovation policy makers, foresight practitioners and scholars within the field.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the core dimensions of problem solving of experts in commercial valuation in order to provide a rich stimulus for managing current practice and enabling future development.

The study adopted a cognitive position but emphasised understanding the everyday commercial property valuation practice in a naturalistic context and from the participants’ perspectives. Given this, a grounded theory approach was employed as a research strategy to guide the data collection and surface theoretical interpretations. Data were obtained through in-depth interviews with practicing valuers working in private real estate firms within metropolitan Birmingham, UK.

The interviews uncover four dimensions of experts’ problem-solving practice in commercial valuation: multidimensional, domain-specific knowledge base; cognitive process that is centred on analysis and reflection; collaborative problem-solving venture with colleagues; and professional practice issues awareness. A conceptual model is proposed which integrates these dimensions enabling a clearer understanding of the nature of valuation work.

This study was designed to be descriptive and theory generating, thus, the findings cannot be generalised as the sample was confined to one city and consists of a small number of senior practicing valuers. Therefore, the findings may not be fully applicable to other practicing valuers, other geographical locations or more widely to other types of property valuation. Nevertheless, the findings provide an important cognitive framework which can be verified by other researchers seeking to examine the practice of expert valuers.

The identification of the core dimensions of expert problem solving in commercial property valuation is shown to have implications for valuation practice, education and continued research. The valuation practice environments need to develop mechanisms to provide time that would enable these multi-dimensions of professional competence to be developed. Further work is needed to expand and refine the model across expert practice in other specialty areas of valuation practice.

This study expands the current understanding of valuation process to areas of expertise that have received less coverage in behavioural valuation literature, that is, the central role of knowledge and cognition and how these are integrated for effective valuation problem solving and decision making.

The purpose of this research is to determinate the criteria weight in a fashion design scheme evaluation system.

The first stage is to use the fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) by fashion design experts of academia and industries for fashion design evaluation criteria. The second stage is based on the use of a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) to find the criteria weight. Finally, an empirical example is used to illustrate the procedure of obtaining the criteria weights for the evaluation of a fashion design scheme.

The result shows that there are eight evaluation criteria to be obtained for fashion design scheme selection. The evaluation characteristic weights of theme and innovation score almost 90 percent (88.93 percent), the criteria weights of the first five, fashion forecast theme story, best‐seller modification, new idea and product position, score almost 80 percent (79.96 percent) and the criteria weights of the first two, fashion forecast and theme story, score almost 40 percent (39.93 percent) when selecting a design scheme in the fashion design process.

This paper proposes the vital characteristic and criteria for the selection of the fashion design scheme. In selecting fashion design scheme, this study uncovers that the marketing is less important than theme and innovation characteristics. Additionally, the results of this study, indicate the important five criteria, offered designer a set of useful indicators in preparing fashion design scheme and improving the quality of fashion design decision.

This paper includes three analyses concerning: expert support in the selection of impact variables for scientific models relevant to environmental planning, the quality of students’ individual estimates of corresponding impacts before and after a group discussion, and the accuracy of artificially‐aggregated judgments of independent groups. Participants were students of environmental sciences at ETH Zurich. The first analysis revealed that during participation in an environmental case study, students’ individual estimates of impacts of variables which have been suggested by experts increased, as compared to the estimates of impacts of additional variables, which have been selected by the students. The remaining analyses consider group discussions on the strength of particular environmental impacts. The quality of the estimates was analyzed referring to expert estimates of the impacts.

To construct a scientific and reasonable indicator system, it is necessary to design a set of standardized indicator primary selection and optimization inspection process. The purpose of this paper is to provide theoretical guidance and reference standards for the indicator system design process, laying a solid foundation for the application of the indicator system, by systematically exploring the expert evaluation method to optimize the index system to enhance its credibility and reliability, to improve its resolution and accuracy and reduce its objectivity and randomness.

The paper is based on system theory and statistics, and it designs the main line of “relevant theoretical analysis – identification of indicators – expert assignment and quality inspection” to achieve the design and optimization of the indicator system. First, the theoretical basis analysis, relevant factor analysis and physical process description are used to clarify the comprehensive evaluation problem and the correlation mechanism. Second, the system structure analysis, hierarchical decomposition and indicator set identification are used to complete the initial establishment of the indicator system. Third, based on expert assignment method, such as Delphi assignments, statistical analysis, t-test and non-parametric test are used to complete the expert assignment quality diagnosis of a single index, the reliability and validity test is used to perform single-index assignment correction and consistency test is used for KENDALL coordination coefficient and F-test multi-indicator expert assignment quality diagnosis.

Compared with the traditional index system construction method, the optimization process used in the study standardizes the process of index establishment, reduces subjectivity and randomness, and enhances objectivity and scientificity.

The innovation point and value of the paper are embodied in three aspects. First, the system design process of the combined indicator system, the multi-dimensional index screening and system optimization are carried out to ensure that the index system is scientific, reasonable and comprehensive. Second, the experts’ background is comprehensively evaluated. The objectivity and reliability of experts’ assignment are analyzed and improved on the basis of traditional methods. Third, aim at the quality of expert assignment, conduct t-test, non-parametric test of single index, and multi-optimal test of coordination and importance of multiple indicators, enhance experts the practicality of assignment and ensures the quality of expert assignment.

Transactive memory systems (TMS) is a theory of group cognition which conceptualizes knowledge sharing and retrieval processes in groups by the use of a shared “directory”. This paper aims to review and analyze the literature and outline a set of requirements for an information system to support and facilitate TMS processes.

The author analyzed all TMS research literature in the SCOPUS and PROQUEST databases, mapping relevant observations about TMS to a TMS process model. These findings were then translated into functional requirements for a TMS information system (TMS‐IS).

A reasonable integration of information management functions into the TMS process model is possible. However, it was also found that social software functions for social networking, self‐disclosure and conversation are a necessary component of such a TMS‐IS.

The specification provides a useful consolidation of the research literature and a reliable point from which to commence design of a TMS‐IS. It is expected that basing these requirements on the research into social cognition will improve the functional fit of a TMS‐IS to group behavior and performance.

Although TMS is a cognitive theory based on knowledge sharing, there has been no analysis until now of the research literature specifically in order to derive specifications for a supporting software system.

This paper aims to introduce a crowd-based method for theorizing. The purpose is not to achieve a scientific theory. On the contrary, the purpose is to achieve a model that may challenge current scientific theories or lead research in new phenomena.

This paper describes a case study of theorizing by using a crowd-based method. The first section of the paper introduces what do the authors know about crowdsourcing, crowd science and the aggregation of non-expert views. The second section details the case study. The third section analyses the aggregation. Finally, the fourth section elaborates the conclusions, limitations and future research.

This document answers to what extent the crowd-based method produces similar results to theories tested and published by experts.

From a theoretical perspective, this study provides evidence to support the research agenda associated with crowd science. The main limitation of this study is that the crowded research models and the expert research models are compared in terms of the graph. Nevertheless, some academics may argue that theory building is about an academic heritage.

This paper exemplifies how to obtain an expert-level research model by aggregating the views of non-experts.

This study is particularly important for institutions with limited access to costly databases, labs and researchers.

Previous research suggested that a collective of individuals may help to conduct all the stages of a research endeavour. Nevertheless, a formal method for theorizing based on the aggregation of non-expert views does not exist. This paper provides the method and evidence of its practical implications.