Requirements Researchers: Do We Practice What We Preach

This chapter argues that many requirements engineering researchers fail to understand current practices. In most fields, the purpose of performing research is to synthesize new knowledge that can be either put into practice, or used by other researchers to help them perform research. Every responsible requirements engineering researcher must at least identify how their research compares and contrasts with existing research, and how it can be used practically in the real world. The challenge to researchers in requirements engineering is to either acknowledge that their research is purely theoretical (and stop lamenting its lack of use), or to study current practice carefully. This discussion would not be complete without acknowledging the presence of systemic issues that interfere with authors' ability to produce research results ready for common practice.