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RESPONSIVE CONSTRUCTIVIST REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING: A PARADIGM
Author(s) -
Mayhew Michael E.,
Alessi R. Samuel
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.1994.tb01687.x
Subject(s) - quality (philosophy) , paradigm shift , computer science , stakeholder , non functional requirement , space (punctuation) , management science , engineering ethics , knowledge management , epistemology , engineering , political science , software construction , philosophy , software , software system , programming language , operating system , public relations
Abstract Poor requirements can lead to cost and schedule overruns and are therefore a source of low quality products and stressful work environments. This paper introduces a “responsive constructivist” paradigm for use by systems engineers to address these concerns. The paradigm is “responsive” to stakeholder statements in a nonlinear but methodological manner. “Constructivist” refers to the abstract construction of problem space based on a linguistic understanding of the various stakeholder's worldview of the problem, not necessarily upon the “preordinate positivist” beliefs of science. This paradigm asserts the necessity of approaching requirements such that the human component is more formally embraced. This challenges requirements engineers to evaluate their own stance of curiosity and neutrality. Additionally, questioning types and patterns aid to gather different views of the problem. This responsive constructivist systems engineering paradigm can improve the quality of interpersonal communications, thereby resulting in higher quality requirements and alternate problem abstractions.