Identifying research gaps in requirements engineering education: An analysis of a conceptual model and survey results

Abstract

Requirements Engineering (RE), because of its theoretical nature and diversity of knowledge, has become the hardest stage of software development for students to learn and for lecturers to teach. Problems in Requirements Engineering Education (REE) have frequently been acknowledged and have been examined in several studies. These problems have been presented together with the results of analyses of them conducted from a conceptually integrated viewpoint (IV). In order to investigate lecturers' perceptions of the REE problems presented in IV, a questionnaire survey was conducted. An analysis of the survey results shows that almost all the contentions presented in IV can be supported. Lecturers perceive RE as an important course and require proper RE course outlines, efficient RE tools and case studies for teaching RE. Based on an analysis of conceptual IV and survey results, major gaps in REE research have been identified that need to be filled by RE researchers in the course of future REE research.