Discourse Analysis of Requirements and Knowledge Elicitation Interviews

This paper sets forth a framework for examining the discourse of interviews that take place during requirements analysis and knowledge elicitation. Research has shown that requirements and knowledge elicitation techniques are very similar if not identical in some instances. Moreover, eliciting user requirements is a critical and difficult activity of both information and knowledge based systems development. In this paper, requirements and knowledge elicitation are discursively mediated social practices. Through discourse analysis, this paper shows that narratives emerge during elicitation interviews. In particular, clients propose a “storytelling frame”, where the talk is inviting and rich, which conflicts with that proposed by analysts. A frame brings with it certain ‘rules’ about turns and topics. The paper portrays a conflict between the preferred frames of the analyst and client which points to some of the problems that characterize elicitation interviews. Explanations of why frames are proposed, resisted and sustained are explored.