Assessing multiview framework (MF) comprehensibility and efficiency: A replicated experiment

Goal oriented quality models have become an important means for assessing and improving software quality. In previous papers, the authors have proposed an approach called multiview framework, for guiding quality managers in designing and managing a goal oriented quality model. This approach has been validated through a controlled experiment carried out with university students. In this paper, the authors discuss a replication of the controlled experiment, carried out with 28 university graduates attending a master degree course in an Italian university. Although research hypotheses are the same, context differs. In the replication, experimental subjects were more representative of practitioners, because their master degree course required project work with industrial partners. Using a cross-over experimental design we found that subjects using the multiview framework made significantly fiewer errors (p<0.05, effect size=1.08) and took significantly less time (p<0.51, effect size=1.82) to review the status of a project than when they used a standard GQM approach. This result was consistent with the results of our original experiment.