Learning and Using Requirements Representation Notations by Information Technology Professionals A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Drexel University by Ralph Rillman Miller III in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy November 2002 © Copyright 2002 Ralph R. Miller. All Rights Reserved. ii Dedications For Doranne, Wally, and Margaret iii Acknowledgements We are not alone. This dissertation is the culmination of fifty years of guidance, encouragement and loving patience from many people. I must first thank and acknowledge my lifelong mentor and uncle Dr. James W. Donald, PhD who has inspired and taught me, as has no other. I am indebted to Dr. Stephen J. Andriole, PhD whose enthusiasm encouraged me to enter this program in the first place. Next I acknowledge the enormous contribution of Dr. Scott Overmyer, PhD whose tireless patience and guidance have, in the end, been crucial to the success of this effort. I must recognize my reviewers who, from the pure goodness of their generous hearts have given unstintingly of their busy lives to help complete this work. And I am equally indebted to the brave volunteers who slogged through piles of papers and sometimes confusing directions to give their very best effort. Thank you all individually and collectively for your critical contributions to the study. You are, indeed, the true professionals. I am especially grateful to Mr. Hugh Gray and Mr. David Stephenson of the Computer Sciences Corporation who have unquestioningly provided vital support for this work. I must also thank all my friends, neighbors, and family past and present who have encouraged and sustained me especially during these past nine years of study, reflection and work. And finally, without the love, incredible patience and devotion of my lifelong companion, friend and wife Doranne, absolutely none of this, none of it, would have happened. It is inadequate but to all of you I can only say thank you. iv Table of Contents LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................................................vi LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................................vii ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................................................. xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................. 13 Expressing Requirements and the System Development Lifecycle .......................................................... 15 Previous Studies on the Relative Value of Different Notations................................................................. 18 Goals, Scenarios, and Prototypes .................................................................................................................... 25 Notations—Textual, Diagrammatic/Graphical and Formal........................................................................ 30 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND METHODOLOGY ........................................................... 36 Approach of this Research................................................................................................................................ 38 Approach: Mapping the REL to the UIML.................................................................................................... 48 Approach: Mapping the UIML to the REL.................................................................................................... 51 Approach: The Pilot Study ............................................................................................................................... 54 CHAPTER 4: MAPPING BETWEEN THE REL AND THE UIML NOTATIONS.................................. 78 Overview of the Mappings............................................................................................................................... 78 Mapping the REL in Terms of the UIML Notation ..................................................................................... 78 Mapping the UIML in Terms of the REL ....................................................................................................100 CHAPTER 5: DATA REDUCTION AND ANALYSIS................................................................................156 Pilot Study Data Reduction ............................................................................................................................156 Discussion of Mapping Data..........................................................................................................................164 CHAPTER 6: RESULTS .....................................................................................................................................168 LIST OF REFERENCES .....................................................................................................................................185 APPENDIX A: STUDY MATERIALS AND QUESTIONNAIRES ..........................................................193 Project 01 – LEAP Familiarization ...............................................................................................................193 Questionnaires for Projects and Reviewer Materials .................................................................................210 v Reviewer Materials and Questionnaire.........................................................................................................223 VITA ........................................................................................................................................................................250 vi List of Tables 1. PROJECTS, PHASES AND DOCTYPES........................................................................................................................ 58 2. FUNCTIONS OF THE ZEN400..................................................................................................................................... 62 3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS (RQS) RELATED TO DATA TYPES................................................................................... 66 4. TIME KEEPING AND DATA EDITING WINDOWS OF THE LEAP TOOLKIT............................................................. 67 5. PERMITTED RELATIONSHIPS IN THE REQUIREMENTS ELEMENT LANGUAGE .................................................... 79 6. MEANING OF BOND-ARC MODIFIERS IN THE REQUIREMENTS ELEMENT LANGUAGE ..................................... 80 7. THE REL ELEMENT LEXICON.................................................................................................................................102 8. THE REL BOND-ARC LEXICON..............................................................................................................................103 9. MODIFICATIONS TO THE REL TO SHOW CARDINALITY......................................................................................105 10. MODIFICATIONS TO THE REL TO INDICATE ORDER AND EXISTENCE............................................................106 11. PARSED FUNCTIONS OF THE ZEN400 .................................................................................................................158 12. TIME DATA..............................................................................................................................................................160 13. TIME DATA (CONTINUED) ....................................................................................................................................160 14. AGGREGATE TIME DATA FOR STUDY CATEGORIES..........................................................................................161 15. ERROR DATA AS REPORTED BY VOLUNTEERS AND REVIEWERS....................................................................163 16. KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING DATA.......................................................................................................165 17. EXPERT REVIEWER EVALUATION OF REPRESENTATIONS................................................................................166 18. EVALUATION OF STUDY MATERIALS BY VOLUNTEERS AND REVIEWERS.....................................................167 vii List of Figures 1. THE LUCITE BOX (REDRAWN WITH PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR.) ..................................................................... 8 2. MAPPING BETWEEN THE REL AND THE UIML ..................................................................................................... 41 3. THE SEEHEIM USER INTERFACE MODEL (REDRAWN WITH PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR.)............................ 45 4. THE STRUCTURE OF THE UIML (REDRAWN WITH PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR.)........................................... 48 5. XML MODEL FOR REL ELEMENTS......................................................................................................................... 49 6. THE XML MODEL OF THE REL BOND TYPES....................................................................................................... 50 7. THE UIML ROOT ELEMENT...................................................................................................................................... 51 8. THE UIML ROOT ELEMENT REPRESENTED IN THE