Application of Human Error Theories in Managing Human Errors in Software Engineering

dc.contributorGray, Jeff
dc.contributorCrawford, Chris
dc.contributorSmith, Randy
dc.contributorBradshaw, Gary
dc.contributor.advisorCarver, Jeffrey
dc.contributor.authorMahaju, Sweta
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa
dc.date.accessioned2023-01-27
dc.date.available2023-01-27
dc.date.issued2022
dc.descriptionElectronic Thesis or Dissertationen_US
dc.description.abstractContext: Software development, especially in its initial requirements phase, is a human-centric activity and hence vulnerable to human error. Human errors are flaws in the human thought process. To ensure software quality, it is essential for practitioners to understand how to manage these human errors. Organizations often introduce changes into the requirements engineering process to either prevent human errors from occurring or to mitigate the harm caused when those errors do occur. While there are studies on human error management in other disciplines, research studies on the prevention and mitigation of human errors in software engineering and requirements engineering specifically are scarce. The current studies in software engineering do not provide strong results about the types of changes most effective in requirements engineering. Objective: The goal of this dissertation research is to structure and organize the findings on human error prevention and mitigation approaches and provide an initial evaluation of their effectiveness. To that end, I developed a taxonomy of human error prevention and mitigation strategies based on data gathered from requirements engineering professionals. Furthermore, I validated its feasibility to be broadly representative and useful in real software development processes. Method: I performed a qualitative analysis of data from two practitioner surveys on requirements engineering practices to identify and classify strategies for preventing and mitigating human errors. Then, I attempted to fit human error prevention and mitigation strategies identified in software engineering and cognitive psychology domains into the taxonomy to enhance and broaden it. Finally, I evaluated the feasibility and usefulness of the taxonomy by training senior-level undergraduate students to use the error management strategies organized in the taxonomy to handle their software development problems. Results: I organized the human error management strategies into a formal taxonomy based on whether the changes primarily affect People, Processes, or the Environment. I further organized the strategies into low-level classes inside each of these high-level categories. I found that error management strategies focused on changes in Process are more frequently used and, hence, more effective than those focused on changes in People. Conclusions: The Human Error Management taxonomy (HEMT) provides a systematic classification and organization of strategies for the prevention and mitigation of human errors in software engineering. This systematic organization provides a foundation upon which future research can build. This dissertation research provides an initial structure to the scattered error management approaches and an initial evaluation of the feasibility and usefulness of that structure. Further empirical studies are needed in more real software development environments and settings to validate and generalize the findings reported in this dissertation. en_US
dc.format.mediumelectronic
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.otherhttp://purl.lib.ua.edu/186779
dc.identifier.otheru0015_0000001_0004603
dc.identifier.otherMahaju_alatus_0004D_15026
dc.identifier.urihttps://ir.ua.edu/handle/123456789/9891
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Alabama Libraries
dc.relation.hasversionborn digital
dc.relation.ispartofThe University of Alabama Electronic Theses and Dissertations
dc.relation.ispartofThe University of Alabama Libraries Digital Collections
dc.rightsAll rights reserved by the author unless otherwise indicated.en_US
dc.subjectCognitive psychology
dc.subjecterror management
dc.subjecterror mitigation
dc.subjecterror prevention
dc.subjecthuman error
dc.subjectsoftware development life cycle
dc.titleApplication of Human Error Theories in Managing Human Errors in Software Engineeringen_US
dc.typethesis
dc.typetext
etdms.degree.departmentUniversity of Alabama. Department of Computer Science
etdms.degree.disciplineComputer Science
etdms.degree.grantorThe University of Alabama
etdms.degree.leveldoctoral
etdms.degree.namePh.D.
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