CIA Labeling and Taxonomy Development 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which relationship type in a thesaurus is denoted by 'RT'?
- Broader Term
- Narrower Term
- Related Term (Correct answer)
- Used For
Correct answer: Related Term
RT (Related Term) denotes an associative relationship between two terms that are conceptually related but not hierarchically linked.
Question 2: Card sorting is primarily used in taxonomy development to:
- Test server-side search performance
- Understand how users mentally group and label content (Correct answer)
- Validate XML schema structure
- Prioritize metadata field completion rates
Correct answer: Understand how users mentally group and label content
Card sorting reveals users' mental models by having them organize topics into groups and name those groups, directly informing category labels and hierarchy.
Question 3: What distinguishes an 'open' card sort from a 'closed' card sort?
- Open sorts use digital tools; closed sorts are paper-based
- In an open sort, participants create their own category names; in a closed sort, categories are predefined (Correct answer)
- Open sorts have no time limit; closed sorts are timed
- Open sorts test existing labels; closed sorts generate new ones
Correct answer: In an open sort, participants create their own category names; in a closed sort, categories are predefined
Open card sorts let participants name their own categories, generating label ideas, while closed sorts ask participants to sort into pre-labeled buckets to validate existing structure.
Question 4: A 'top-down' taxonomy design approach starts with:
- Analyzing existing content and clustering it
- Defining high-level categories first, then subdividing (Correct answer)
- Collecting user-generated tags and organizing them
- Reviewing competitor site structures
Correct answer: Defining high-level categories first, then subdividing
Top-down taxonomy design begins with broad category definitions based on domain expertise or organizational strategy, then progressively adds narrower subcategories.
Question 5: In SKOS (Simple Knowledge Organization System), which property links a concept to its preferred label?
- skos:altLabel
- skos:prefLabel (Correct answer)
- skos:hiddenLabel
- skos:notation
Correct answer: skos:prefLabel
skos:prefLabel designates the primary human-readable label for a SKOS concept, with one preferred label per language.
Question 6: Which principle states that taxonomy nodes at the same level should be mutually exclusive?
- Exhaustivity
- Specificity
- Mutual exclusivity (Correct answer)
- Literary warrant
Correct answer: Mutual exclusivity
Mutual exclusivity ensures sibling categories do not overlap, so any given item can be unambiguously placed in exactly one category at each level.
Question 7: The concept of 'literary warrant' in taxonomy construction means:
- Terms must appear in published legal documents
- Only terms found in actual documents in the corpus should be included (Correct answer)
- Labels must be approved by a standards committee
- Terms should be derived from user search logs only
Correct answer: Only terms found in actual documents in the corpus should be included
Literary warrant justifies including a term in a controlled vocabulary based on its actual occurrence in the literature or content being indexed.
CIA Labeling and Taxonomy Development 3
Which relationship type in a thesaurus is denoted by 'RT'?