Requirements prioritization is an activity aimed at determining the essential requirements to include in a software release. Although there are several prioritization methods to systematize this task, there are still unresolved challenges. Existing methods do not guarantee that requirements prioritization meets stakeholder expectations and goals. This is because most prioritization methods operate by considering only quantitative information, making it difficult to formally capture stakeholder interests and perspectives that can rather be made explicit in qualitative terms. Likewise, methods including qualitative information only consider elements associated with benefit estimation, that is, positive aspects of the project, but neglect costs or negative aspects. As a result, the prioritization process is driven by a partial view of constraints. Such methods also fail at capturing and combining expert knowledge that decision-makers can bring into the decision-making process. In this research, we propose a novel method for software requirements prioritization, which facilitates incorporating experts’ qualitative assessment at the outset of the prioritization process and considers both benefit and cost constraints. Details of the method are presented, together with a case study describing a real application scenario. Recommendations and guidelines regarding the application of the method are proposed based on the results of the case study.
2 January 2021 in Personal and Ubiquitous Computing
Nowadays the complexity of knowledge, the specialization of labor and the pervasiveness of ICT in human activity, lead individuals to frequently make complex decisions with ethical implications. The educational system has a fundamental role in preparing specialized human capital in every discipline, however, it also faces the challenge of educating individuals with ethical discernment capabilities and behavior. In this book chapter, we describe the design, implementation and validation of EthicApp-RP, a social platform aimed at higher education settings, for fostering reflection and moral reasoning around ethical cases through a role-playing activity. We present an application of EthicApp-RP involving a cohort of undergraduate business students (N = 85), based on a case in which students play political and public leadership roles in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. The results indicate that students and teachers acknowledge the learning environment’s capacity to stimulate reflection and argumentation around ethical issues, while providing all students with equal opportunities for participation. In addition, the tool offers high technical and pedagogical usability, based on the Systems Usability Scale and the Pedagogically Meaningful Learning Questionnaire. EthicApp-RP can contribute to the improvement of ethics education, especially in scientific and technological disciplines, wherein students are quantitatively inclined by nature, in spite that ethics, a humanistic subject often foreign to them, must live at the core of their preparation.