User Preference and Performance with UML Interaction Diagrams

During the requirements process it is of key importance that all representations used are clearly understood by those who must use them. Therefore it is essential to ensure that those representations are presented as effectively as possible. User preference is one area that may influence the effectiveness of the representations presented. This paper describes a study that was carried out to explore the relationship between user preference for UML sequence and collaboration diagrams. Results show that participants who preferred sequence diagrams showed improved performance when using sequence diagrams. This was true for preferences expressed both before and after the task. However, participants who did not prefer sequence diagrams showed an overall improved performance for both types of diagram over the group that preferred sequence diagrams.