Face Validation of Database Forensic Investigation Metamodel

Using a face validity approach, this paper provides a validation of the Database Forensic
Investigation Metamodel (DBFIM). The DBFIM was developed to solve interoperability, heterogeneity,
complexity, and ambiguity in the database forensic investigation (DBFI) field, where several
models were identified, collected, and reviewed to develop DBFIM. However, the developed
DBFIM lacked the face validity-based approach that could ensure DBFIM’s applicability in the DBFI
field. The completeness, usefulness, and logic of the developed DBFIM needed to be validated by
experts. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to perform the validation of the developed DBFIM
using the qualitative face validity approach. The face validity method is a common way of validating
metamodels through subject expert inquiry on the domain application of the metamodel to assess
whether the metamodel is reasonable and compatible based on the outcomes. For this purpose,
six experts were nominated and selected to validate the developed DBFIM. From the expert review,
the developed DBFIM was found to be complete, coherent, logical, scalable, interoperable, and useful
for the DBFI field.