NIAM's design manifests an ontological assumption, therefore, that this distinction is either unimportant or does not exist in the world. Users of grammars are always constrained, therefore, in terms of the ways they can represent their worlds by the presence or absence of constructs in the grammars. Epistemological Assumptions Underlying Fact-Based Data Modeling Hirschheim et al. I argue that there is nothing inherent in fact-based data modeling that precludes adherence to the epistemological assumptions that Hirschheim et al. As I have contended above, it is now widely accepted that fact-based models are based on someone' s or some group's perceptions of the world and that these perceptions will manifest biases.
Epistemological assumptions impact how individuals reach an understanding of the world.
Data models are used to represent this understanding. They need not impact how this understanding is formed, providing users recognize that they are simply representational vehicles. I argue that designers and users can develop critical, reflective approach to their epistemological assumptions, independently of the data modeling grammars they use. Data models are devised to support organizational processes that are conceived as maintaining this stability and order. In contrast, data models are used within the social-relativist approach to facilitate stakeholder learning and understanding.