The New Jersey Institute of Technology's
Electronic Theses & Dissertations Project

Title:	Negotiation of software requirements in an asynchronous collaborative environment
Author:	Campbell, Catherine Lowry
View Online:	njit-etd2005-019 (xv, 240 pages ~ 12.7 MB pdf)
Department:	Department of Information Systems
Degree:	Doctor of Philosophy
Program:	Information Systems
Document Type:	Dissertation
Advisory Committee:	Deek, Fadi P. (Committee co-chair) Van de Walle, Bartel Albrecht (Committee co-chair) Seidman, Stephen B. (Committee member) Kirova, Vassilka D. (Committee member) Naveda, J. Fernando (Committee member)
Date:	2005-01
Keywords:	Software requirements Asynchronous communication Asynchronous negotiation Negotiation of software requirement Emergency response information system Requirements engineering
Availability:	Unrestricted
Abstract:	The effect of task structure and negotiation sequence on collaborative software requirements negotiation is investigated. This work began with an extensive literature review that focused on current research in collaborative software engineering and, in particular, on the negotiation of software requirements and the requisite collaboration for the development of such requirements. A formal detailed experiment was then conducted to evaluate the effects of negotiation sequence and task structure in an asynchronous group meeting environment. The experiment tested the impact of these structures on groups negotiating the requirements for an emergency response information system. The results reported here show that these structures can have a positive impact on solution quality but a negative impact on process satisfaction, although following a negotiation sequence and task structure can help asynchronous groups come to agreement faster. Details of the experimental procedures, statistical analysis, and discussion of the results of the experiment are also presented, as are suggestions for improving this work and a plan for future research.