Skip to content

Research Questions

This section organizes the thesis logic around one main research question and four supporting sub-questions. The sub-questions are not equal alternatives; each contributes evidence to one part of the final answer.

The overall research approach follows a Design Science Research Methodology orientation [1].

Question Hierarchy

  • Main research question: How can a stack-agnostic Intermediate Representation (IR) be used to automate the translation and enforcement of healthcare compliance requirements within a CI/CD pipeline?
  • SQ0 (Existing Work): What existing Compliance-as-Code approaches and known limitations are most relevant to healthcare CI/CD compliance automation?
  • SQ1 (Meta-Model): What attributes must a compliance meta-model possess to accurately capture the intent of healthcare data privacy and security laws?
  • SQ2 (Compiler Mapping): How can a specialized compliance compiler effectively map high-level IR definitions to actionable, environment-specific technical guardrails?
  • SQ3 (Impact): How does an automated Compliance-as-Code gate impact developer feedback cycles and the overall security posture of custom healthcare software?

Synthesis Rule

The final thesis answer is produced on the main-question page by integrating outcomes from SQ0-SQ3.

  • SQ0 grounds the design in existing approaches and known gaps.
  • SQ1 defines what the IR must represent.
  • SQ2 defines how representation becomes enforceable controls.
  • SQ3 validates practical effects and trade-offs in delivery.

Traceability

Each sub-question page follows the same strict cycle:

  1. Problem Investigation
  2. Treatment Design
  3. Treatment Validation
  4. Iteration Checkpoints
  5. Evaluation Boundary
  6. Evidence Map

This keeps the documentation directly reusable for the research report and final deliverables.

All risks are maintained centrally in Research Risk Register and categorized by question scope.

References

[1] R. J. Wieringa, Design Science Methodology for Information Systems and Software Engineering. Springer Publishing Company, Incorporated, 2014.