A Framework to Validate Requirements Engineering Research Artefacts

Practitioners often resist the diverse assortment of research artefacts that are put forward to overcome the problems they face when developing requirements. This resistance often leads to the under-utilisation of artefacts despite their ability to reduce cost through software process improvement. There is a waste of resources (e.g. time and money) during development either as a consequence of practitioners ' resistance or the inability of these artefacts to demonstrably meet practitioners' needs. This paper details a three-layered evaluation framework consisting of several sets of criteria, standards and guidelines. The purpose of the framework is to provide a means to validate the diverse research artefacts produced thereby increasing the likelihood of its uptake by practitioners and academics alike. The paper also outlines ongoing work to implement the proposed framework to validate an analysis approach developed to assist stakeholders during the early stages of requirements development.