Use Cases and Research Processes of Chinese Classics Users

Abstract

　In order to clarify research processes of Chinese classics users and to describe the use cases of them that are common to multiple research processes, 13 researchers who use Chinese classics for their research were interviewed. Thirty use cases were identified through qualitative analysis of the interview transcripts, and activity diagrams were drawn for each researcher to depict the research process. The IFLA Library Reference Model was used as a domain model for the description of the use cases, with some modifications for this research. Additional interviews with two researchers could confirm that the use cases found in previous steps were also applicable to other Chinese classics users. As a result, the author was able to describe the use cases and visualize the research processes of Chinese classics users. However, as a limitation of the method adopted in this research, the author pointed out that some of the characteristics of the information behavior of Chinese classics users could not be fully described in the use cases and activity diagrams.