Overcoming Mixed-Gender Requirements Misspecification with the Modified Coherence Method

Research has identified significant differences between the communication patterns employed by males and females in all cultures. The variances in communication can lead to ineffective transfer of information from the user to an analyst in the system development process. The quality of the resulting system will primarily depend on the information that is verbalized to the system analyst by the system users during the requirements elicitation process. Therefore, coherence between the parties, especially within mixed gender dyads, is vital in understanding what the user would expect from the system to be developed. We explore these communication differences in an attempt to improve the understanding among both parties in overcoming issues arising from lack of themal coherence. After analyzing those differences, the modified coherence method is presented as a primary method in overcoming the language barriers encountered during the discourse between analyst and users during requirements elicitation.

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