Business Analysis Requirements Elicitation 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the primary purpose of requirements elicitation in business analysis?
- To document existing system functionality
- To discover and draw out stakeholder needs and expectations (Correct answer)
- To create test cases for QA teams
- To assign tasks to development teams
Correct answer: To discover and draw out stakeholder needs and expectations
Requirements elicitation is the process of discovering and drawing out stakeholder needs, expectations, and constraints to define what a solution must do.
Question 2: Which elicitation technique involves observing stakeholders performing their tasks in their natural work environment?
- Focus groups
- Surveys
- Ethnographic observation (Correct answer)
- Brainstorming
Correct answer: Ethnographic observation
Ethnographic observation (also called job shadowing) involves a BA watching stakeholders work in their actual environment to uncover implicit and tacit requirements.
Question 3: In a Joint Application Development (JAD) session, who typically facilitates the meeting?
- The project sponsor
- A neutral, trained facilitator (Correct answer)
- The lead developer
- The end user
Correct answer: A neutral, trained facilitator
JAD sessions are led by a neutral, trained facilitator to ensure all voices are heard and to prevent any single group from dominating the discussion.
Question 4: Which elicitation technique is most appropriate when requirements need to be gathered from a large number of geographically dispersed stakeholders simultaneously?
- One-on-one interviews
- Document analysis
- Surveys and questionnaires (Correct answer)
- Prototyping
Correct answer: Surveys and questionnaires
Surveys and questionnaires are ideal for reaching large, distributed audiences efficiently and collecting standardized data without scheduling individual sessions.
Question 5: What is the key difference between 'requirements elicitation' and 'requirements gathering'?
- They are identical terms used interchangeably
- Elicitation actively draws out hidden needs, while gathering assumes requirements are readily available (Correct answer)
- Gathering involves more stakeholders than elicitation
- Elicitation only applies to software projects
Correct answer: Elicitation actively draws out hidden needs, while gathering assumes requirements are readily available
Elicitation implies active discovery and drawing out of implicit, hidden, or unknown needs, whereas gathering implies simply collecting requirements that stakeholders already know and can state.
Question 6: What type of questions should a business analyst primarily use during a structured interview to uncover detailed requirements?
- Closed-ended questions only
- Leading questions to guide the interviewee
- Open-ended questions that encourage elaboration (Correct answer)
- Multiple-choice questions for consistency
Correct answer: Open-ended questions that encourage elaboration
Open-ended questions encourage stakeholders to elaborate and share context, uncovering deeper insights that closed-ended questions would miss.
Question 7: Which of the following best describes 'requirements elicitation planning'?
- Writing the final requirements document
- Defining how elicitation activities will be conducted, including techniques, stakeholders, and schedule (Correct answer)
- Approving requirements with the project sponsor
- Testing requirements against acceptance criteria
Correct answer: Defining how elicitation activities will be conducted, including techniques, stakeholders, and schedule
Elicitation planning defines the approach for conducting elicitation, including which techniques to use, which stakeholders to engage, and the timing of activities.
Business Analysis Requirements Elicitation 1
What is the primary purpose of requirements elicitation in business analysis?