Naming the pain in requirements engineering: A survey design and German results

Abstract

This paper summarises the results published in Information and Software Technology in January 2015. Although researchers are investigating requirements engineering with a plethora of empirical studies, a broad empirical basis is still missing. To get a foundation about the state of the practice in RE, we propose a distributed family of open and reproducible surveys. The instrument is based on a theory that integrates a set of hypotheses inferred from our experiences and available, isolated studies. We test each hypothesis in our theory and identify further candidates to extend the theory by correlation and Grounded Theory analysis. Our results from Germany reveal, for example, a tendency to improve RE via internally defined qualitative methods rather than relying on normative approaches like CMMI. The survey design proved itself useful and is, at present, now employed in 14 countries in total (see also our website: www.re-survey.org). We found that surprisingly many aspects of the status quo and the problems are similar in the surveyed countries. Yet, there are also notable differences. We will report on both the survey design and the detailed results from Germany, and we will give an outlook on the results of the current world-wide replications of the survey.