On the effect of using SysML requirement diagrams to comprehend requirements: results from two controlled experiments

We carried out a controlled experiment and an external replication to investigate whether the use of requirement diagrams of the System Modeling Language (SysML) helps in the comprehensibility of requirements. The original experiment was conducted at the University of Basilicata in Italy with Bachelor students, while its replication was executed at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden with Bachelor and Master students. A total of 87 participants took part in the experiment and its replication. The achieved results indicated that the comprehension of requirements is statistically significant when requirements specification documents include requirement diagrams without any impact on the time to accomplish comprehension tasks. On the basis of our results, we also present and discuss possible implications from the practitioner and researcher perspectives.