Do students recognize ambiguity in software design? a multi-national, multi-institutional report

Authors:
Ken Blaha;Alvaro Monge;Dean Sanders;Beth Simon;Tammy VanDeGrift
Affiliations:
Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA;California State University, Long Beach;Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO;University of San Diego;University of Washington
Venue:
Proceedings of the 27th international conference on Software engineering
Year:
2005

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Abstract

Successful software engineering requires experience and acknowledgment of complexity, including that which leads designers to recognize ambiguity within the software design description itself. We report on a study of 21 post-secondary institutions from the USA, UK, Sweden, and New Zealand. First competency and graduating students as well as educators were asked to perform a software design task. We found that as students go from first competency to graduating seniors they tend to recognize ambiguities in under-specified problems. Additionally, participants who recognized ambiguity addressed more requirements of the design.