An Experimental, Tool-Based Evaluation of Requirements Prioritization Techniques in Distributed Settings

In this paper, we compare and analyze three common techniques for prioritizing software requirements: Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Cumulative Voting (CV) and Likert Scale Technique (LST). These techniques are based on a ratio scale and are applied within this research as part of a hierarchical approach to requirements analysis on different levels of abstraction. For the systematic evaluation of these techniques in distributed settings, a controlled experimental setting was developed and carried out via the Internet. Therefore, a particular Web application was developed and data from 199 subjects was collected. The overall results indicate that LST is a simple, fast, and well-scaling prioritization technique, whereas slightly less precise than the other two techniques. However if accuracy is an important criterion, and a more complicated and slower technique is accepted, CV has proven to be most adequate. For the AHP, particularly when used with many requirements, a recommendation cannot be given because of poor scalability

From Saussure to sociology and back to linguistics

The article highlights a semiotically relevant aspect of Niklas Luhmann’s Theory of Social Systems: its reception of the Saussurean dichotomies signifiant/signifié and langue/parole. Luhmann’s position is weighted against the Cours as well as Saussure’s original writings, sampling their approaches to form, meaning, the sign’s two-sidedness, and the relation of linguistic structure and speech events. Ultimately, the article proposes a social ontology of linguistic abstraction in line with general semiology that explains the motility of language through communication, thereby accounting for variability and optionality. It also indicates as to how the theoretical framework can feed into a model of linguistic description.Peer Reviewe

Graphical user interface prototyping for distributed requirements engineering

Finding and understanding the right requirements is essential for every software project. This book deals with the challenge to improve requirements engineering in distributed software projects. The use of graphical user interface (GUI) prototypes can help stakeholders in such projects to elicit and specify high quality requirements. The research objective of this study is to develop a method and a software artifact to support the activities in the early requirements engineering phase in order to overcome some of the difficulties and improve the quality of the requirements, which should eventually lead to better software products. Therefore, this study seeks to support the work with these prototypes in distributed projects. It is based on a theoretical analysis and follows a design science research approach

An Experimental, Tool-Based Evaluation and Requirements Prioritization Techniques in Distributed Settings

In this paper, we compare and analyze three common techniques for prioritizing software requirements: Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Cumulative Voting (CV) and Likert Scale Technique (LST). These techniques are based on a ratio scale and are applied within this research as part of a hierarchical approach to requirements analysis on different levels of abstraction. For the systematic evaluation of these techniques in distributed settings, a controlled experimental setting was developed and carried out via the Internet. Therefore, a particular Web application was developed and data from 199 subjects was collected. The overall results indicate that LST is a simple, fast, and well-scaling prioritization technique, whereas slightly less precise than the other two techniques. However if accuracy is an important criterion, and a more complicated and slower technique is accepted, CV has proven to be most adequate. For the AHP, particularly when used with many requirements, a recommendation cannot be given because of poor scalability

Human Resource Management Journal / The HR lady is on board : untangling the link between HRM's feminine image and HRM's board representation

In this paper, we untangle the relationship between the HRM occupation's feminine image and the representation of the HRM function on executive boards. A Monte Carlo simulation analysis of 172 executive boards in Austria, Germany, France, Spain, and Sweden shows that women on boards are disproportionately often responsible for HRM and having a woman on the board corresponds to HRM being represented on the board. Additional exploratory analyses of country contexts indicate that this relationship is not universal. Considering several explanations for these country differences, we propose that institutional pressures promoting women's integration into boards is the main reason for the differences. Organisations yield to this pressure and reduce the anticipated performance risks by appointing women with functionspecific experience to board positions responsible for HRMa function perceived as matching women's stereotypically assumed talents.(VLID)459326