A family of experiments to evaluate the understandability of TRiStar and i* for modeling Teleo-Reactive systems

Abstract

The Teleo-Reactive approach facilitates reactive system development without losing sight of the system goals. Objective: To introduce TRiStar as an extension of i* notation to specify Teleo-Reactive systems. To evaluate whether the notational extension is an improvement in terms of effectiveness and efficiency over the original language when it is used to specify Teleo-Reactive systems. Method: A family of experiments was carried out with final-year engineering students and experienced software development professionals in which the participants were asked to fill in a form designed to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of each of the languages. Results: Both the statistical results of the experiments, analyzed separately, and the meta-analysis of the experiments as a whole, allow us to conclude that TRiStar notation is more effective and efficient than i* as a requirements specification language for modeling Teleo-Reactive systems. Conclusion: The extensions made on i* have led to TRiStar definition, a more effective and efficient goal-oriented notation than the original i* language.