An Empirical Study of Software Requirements Verification and Validation Techniques along their Mitigation Strategies

Authors

  • Hameed Ullah Khan International Islamic University Islamabad
  • Ikram Asghar International Islamic University Islamabad
  • Shahbaz Ahmad A. K. Ghayyur International Islamic University Islamabad
  • Mohsin Raza Iqra University Islamabad, Pakistan

Keywords:

software engineering, requirements verification and validation, mitigation strategies, expert judgment

Abstract

Requirements engineering is very crucial phase of software development cycle. Different sub activities are performed during requirements engineering. Previous research shows that there are various techniques regarding requirements verification and validation. These techniques can have different relative importance in different situation. Typically the requirements engineers don’t have proper knowledge regarding nature of each technique. Existing requirements validation & verification techniques differ in their ability to effectively cover the system requirements. It is highly desirable to conduct an empirical study on requirements verification and validation techniques to know their relative importance in opinion of different experts. In this study we developed a questionnaire based on requirements verification and validation techniques and their relative importance. Analysis of the results indicates that according to experts point of view (based on their experiences and judgments) ambiguous requirements are the biggest reason behind requirements verification and validation issues. Experts do believe that review and inspection are the best mitigation strategies to remove or minimize requirements verification and validation challenges.

Author Biographies

Hameed Ullah Khan, International Islamic University Islamabad

MS Student

Ikram Asghar, International Islamic University Islamabad

PhD Student

References

M. Manan Qadir, M. Ikram Asghar, and Shahbaz A.K. Ghayyur. "Scaling of Critical success factors for Requirements engineering in the development of Large Scale Systems" IJRIC, Vol. 1, pp. 47-54, 2009.

L. Jiang, E.A .Eberlein, B.H. Far and M.Mousavi, “A methodology for the selection of requirements engineering techniques,†Soft Syst Model, Vol.7, No. , pp.303–328, Springer, 2008.

Raja, Uzair Akbar. "Empirical studies of requirements validation techniques." Computer, Control and Communication, 2009. IC4 2009. 2nd International Conference on. IEEE, 2009.

C. Ponsard ,P. Massonet , J. F. Molderez and A. Rifaut , “Early verification and validation of mission critical systems,†Form Method Syst , Vol.30,No., pp.233–247, Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2006.

Doron Drusinsky, James Bret Michael, and Man-Tak Shing, “A Visual Tradeoff Space for Formal Verification and Validation Techniques,†IEEE Systems Journal, Vol. 2, No. 4, Dec 2008.

L.Jiang E.A.Eberlein and B.H.Far, “A case study validation of a knowledge-based approach for the selection of requirements engineering techniques,†Requirements Eng, Vol.13, No., pp.117–146, Springer, 2008.

Y.Ayalew and A.M.Katongo, “A Multi-Criteria Group Decision support Approach for Requirements elicitation Techniques Selection,†Asian Journal of Information Technology, Vol.7, No. 2, pp-40-52, 2008.

C. Ponsard ,P. Massonet , J. F. Molderez and A. Rifaut , “Early verification and validation of mission critical systems,†Form Method Syst , Vol.30,No., pp.233–247, Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2006.

Kamsties, Erik, Daniel M. Berry, and Barbara Paech. "Detecting ambiguities in requirements documents using inspections." Workshop on Inspections in Software Engineering, Paris, France. 2001.

Juan F. Sequeda, “A Taxonomy of Verification and Validation of Software Requirement and Specificationsâ€, 2007.

Lethbridge, T.C., Sim, S.E., Singer, J. “Studying Software Engineers: Data Collection Techniques for Software Field Studiesâ€. Empirical Software Engineering. 10, 3 Jul. 2005, pp.311-341, 2005.

A. Cesar C. Franca, Fabio Q. B. da Silva. “An Empirical Study on Software Engineers Motivational Factorsâ€. IEEE,Third International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement, Lake Buena Vista, FL, October 15-16, 2009.

Selltiz, Wrightwsman, Cook. “Research methods in social relationsâ€, Behavior and social science.Holt, Rinehart and Winston.4th Edition, 1981.

Sommerville, Ian, and Gerald Kotonya. Requirements engineering: processes and techniques. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,1998.

Asghar, Ikram, and Muhammad Usman. "Motivational and De-Motivational Factors for Software Engineers: An Empirical Investigation." Frontiers of Information Technology (FIT), 2013 11th International Conference on. IEEE, 2013.

Abran, Alain, et al. Guide to the software engineering body of knowledge-SWEBOK. IEEE Press, 2001.

Klock, Samuel K., and Peter Kemper. "An automated technique to support the verification and validation of simulation models." DSN. 2010.

Heinonen, Samuli, and Hannu Tanner. "Early Validation of Requirements in Distributed Product Development–An Industrial Case Study." On the Move to Meaningful Internet Systems: OTM 2010 Workshops. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2010.

Bickerton, Matthew J., and Jawed Siddiqi. "The classification of requirements engineering methods." Requirements Engineering, 1993., Proceedings of IEEE International Symposium on. IEEE, 1993.

Tang, Yan, and Kunwu Feng. "An Expert System Based Approach to Modeling and Selecting Requirement Engineering Techniques." Web Information Systems and Mining. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2009. 19-30.

Lobo, Lester, and James D. Arthur. "Effective Requirements Generation: Synchronizing Early Verification & Validation, Methods and Method Selection Criteria." arXiv preprint cs/0503004 (2005).

Downloads

Published

2015-08-15

How to Cite

Khan, H. U., Asghar, I., Ghayyur, S. A. A. K., & Raza, M. (2015). An Empirical Study of Software Requirements Verification and Validation Techniques along their Mitigation Strategies. Asian Journal of Computer and Information Systems, 3(3). Retrieved from https://www.ajouronline.com/index.php/AJCIS/article/view/2892

Issue

Section

Articles