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User participation in the requirements engineering process: An empirical study

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Abstract

In the development of information systems, user participation in the requirements engineering (RE) process is hypothesised to be necessary for RE success. In this paper we develop a theoretical model which predicts that the interaction between user participation in the RE process and uncertainty has an impact on RE success. This theory is empirically tested using survey data. We develop instruments to measure user participation and uncertainty. An existing instrument for measuring RE success was used. This instrument covers two dimensions of RE success: (a) the quality of RE service, and (b) the quality of RE products. The results, indicate that as uncertainty increases, greater user participation alleviates the negative influence of uncertainty on the quality of RE service, and that as uncertainty decreases, the beneficial effects on the quality of RE service of increasing user participation diminish. Furthermore, we did not find that the interaction between user participation and uncertainty had an impact on the quality of RE products. Based on these results, we make recommendations for managing user participation in the RE process, and provide directions for future research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre de Recherche Informatique de Montreal, 1801 McGill College Avenue, Suite 800, H3A 2N4, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Khaled El Emam & Nazim H. Madhavji

  2. Geine Informatique, Université de Technologie de Compiegne, France

    Soizic Quintin

  3. School of Computer Science, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

    Nazim H. Madhavji

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  1. Khaled El Emam
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  2. Soizic Quintin
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  3. Nazim H. Madhavji
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This work has been supported, in part, by the IT Macroscope Project and NSERC Canada.

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Emam, K.E., Quintin, S. & Madhavji, N.H. User participation in the requirements engineering process: An empirical study. Requirements Eng 1, 4–26 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01235763

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