A Practical Guideline of Selecting Stakeholders for Requirements Elicitation – An Empirical Study

Requirements elicitation is widely regarded as the most challenging activity within the scope of requirements engineering. The activity concerns the understanding of problems that a system should address, which later leads to the identification of system requirements. As an abstract process, its effectiveness is greatly influenced by the credibility and suitability of the stakeholders involved. High-quality requirements could only be achieved if they are gathered from the right stakeholders. There are several methods proposed by earlier studies that could guide the selection of stakeholders for requirements elicitation. The methods however are theoretical rather than pragmatic. Therefore, there is a need of practical method that could help practitioners in identifying and selecting the appropriate stakeholders. Prior to having such a method, the contributing factors that influence the selection process should be firstly identified and understood. This study addressed this issue by collating the important factors that contribute to an effective selection of stakeholders for requirement elicitation purposes. The factors were identified through a series of empirical study conducted in two countries: seven in-depth individual interviews and a focus group session with five experienced practitioners. The results were analysed by using content analysis through Nvivo 9. The factors were then merged as a practical guideline that consists of a step-bystep procedure. This guide can be used by practitioners to execute the process of identifying and selecting the appropriate stakeholders for requirements elicitation.