Developing Techniques for Using Software Documents: A SeriesDeveloping Techniques for Using Software Documents:A Series of Empirical StudiesPh.D. Thesis ProposalForrest J. ShullUniversity of MarylandAbstractThis proposal presents an empirical method for developing reading techniques; that give effective,procedural guidance to software practitioners. Each reading technique is tailored so that it can be used toaccomplish a specific software-related task (e.g. defect detection) using a specific kind of softwaredocument (e.g. requirements). This empirical method can be followed to create and then continuallyimprove reading techniques, since it explicitly builds and tests underlying models of how developers use aparticular software document in a particular environment. That is, our approach for developing readingtechniques checks the underlying assumptions about:· Specific tasks for which the document will be used· Aspects of the document that must be understood to support those tasks· Aspects of the environment affecting tasks using the documentThis empirical approach avoids the mistake of applying assumptions that are true in other environments toa context in which they have not been tested.We illustrate the development method by discussing how it was used to create two readingtechniques (one for finding defects in requirements, and a second for reusing design and code from anObject-Oriented framework in a new system). We describe a series of studies by which we and otherresearchers have assessed the effectiveness of these techniques in practical situations. These studies showthat these reading techniques are useful and effective guidelines for accomplishing real softwareengineering tasks, and thus demonstrate the effectiveness of the empirical development method.Finally, this proposal discusses how indications from these studies have been used to begin toformulate higher-level hypotheses about reading techniques. We discuss the results from these earlierstudies as well as important questions that have not yet been addressed. We propose a further study that isdesigned to test potential improvements to one of our reading techniques and, in the process, shed somelight on the unanswered questions from our earlier studies.1Table of Contents1. Introduction 21.1. Problem Statement 31.2. Proposed Solution 41.2.1. Definitions 41.2.2. Focusing on Software Documents 51.2.3. An Empirical Approach 81.2.4. A Process for Developing Reading Techniques 91.2.5. An Example 161.3. Validation Plan 201.3.1. Evaluating Reading Techniques 201.3.2. Evaluating the Process for Developing Reading Techniques 212. Completed Work 242.1. Investigating a Technique for Analysis of Requirements: PBR 252.1.1. Introduction 252.1.2. Related Work 252.1.3. Modeling 262.1.4. Mapping Models to Procedure 272.1.5. Description of the Study 292.1.6. Evaluation of Effectiveness in the Environment 312.1.7. Evaluation of Level of Specificity 322.1.8. Evaluation of Measures of Subject Experience 332.1.9. Evaluation of Tailoring to Other Environments 342.1.10. Conclusions and Indications for Future Research into PBR 362.2. Investigating a Technique for Reuse of Code and Design: SBR 372.2.1. Introduction 372.2.2. Related Work 382.2.3. Modeling 382.2.4. Mapping Models to Procedure 392.2.5. Description of the Study and Analysis 402.2.6. Evaluation of Effectiveness in the Environment 422.2.7. Evaluation of Level of Specificity 442.2.8. Evaluation of Measures of Subject Experience 462.2.9. Evaluation of Tailoring to Other Environments 472.2.10. Conclusions and Indications for Future Research into SBR 472.3. Summary of Completed Work 493. Proposed Work 513.1. Introduction 513.2. Modeling 533.3. Mapping Models to Procedure 533.4. Description of the Study 553.5. Evaluating the Reading Techniques 574. Summary 59References 60AppendicesA. Sample requirements 65B. PBR procedures 67C. SBR procedures 70D. New versions of PBR, for proposed work 74E. Data collection forms and questionnaires, for proposed work 8021 IntroductionThis proposal presents a body of research that makes two main contributions to software engineering:1. It presents an iterative process for creating and improving reading techniques, which are proceduraltechniques that give effective guidance for accomplishing a specific software-related task. We refer tothis process simply as the Reading Technique Development (RTD) process. As will be explained ingreater detail in the rest of this chapter, reading techniques created by the RTD process pr