In search of requirements analyst characteristics that influence requirements elicitation effectiveness: a quasi-experiment

Abstract

Context: Elicitation effectiveness depends on non-wellunderstood analyst?s skills and abilities. Identifying which analysts? characteristics have stronger influence on elicitation may help to improve requirements quality. Objective: Identify the analysts? characteristics that influence on the elicitation effectiveness. Method: We analyzed the impact of: the analyst?s experience in interviews, elicitation and requirements; their academic qualifications, the familiarity with problem domain and the time spent during the elicitation session in the effectiveness of the elicitation and subsequent consolidation of requirements, using a quasi-experiment. Results: The knowledge of the problem domain, the analysts? academic qualifications and the elicitation time do not appear to influence the effectiveness of the elicitation sessions. The analyst?s experience exerts a slight negative influence on the effectiveness of the elicitation session. The analyst?s experience and familiarity with problem domain adversely affect the consolidation process. Finally, the analyst?s academic qualifications have a strong positive impact(statistically significant) on the effectiveness of the consolidation process. Conclusions: Although the evidence is still scarce, it seems the analyst's confidence on his own experience may be harmful in some cases. Specific training in software requirements may yield much higher gains than non-specific analyst experience.