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Do Users’ Explainability Needs in Software Change with Mood?

Research output: Chapter in book/report/conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Research › peer review

Authors

Research Organisations

Details

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationRequirements Engineering
Subtitle of host publicationFoundation for Software Quality - 31st International Working Conference, REFSQ 2025, Proceedings
EditorsAnne Hess, Angelo Susi
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Pages56-71
Number of pages16
ISBN (electronic)978-3-031-88531-0
ISBN (print)9783031885303
Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2025
Event31st International Working Conference on Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality, REFSQ 2025 - Barcelona, Spain
Duration: 7 Apr 2025 → 10 Apr 2025

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science
Volume15588 LNCS
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (electronic)1611-3349

Abstract

Context and Motivation: The increasing complexity of modern software systems often challenges users’ abilities to interact with them. Taking established quality attributes such as usability and transparency into account can mitigate this problem, but often do not suffice to completely solve it. Recently, explainability has emerged as essential non-functional requirement to help overcome the aforementioned difficulties. Question/problem: User preferences regarding the integration of explanations in software differ. Neither too few nor too many explanations are helpful. In this paper, we investigate the influence of a user’s subjective mood and objective demographic aspects on explanation needs by means of frequency and type of explanation. Principal ideas/results: Our results reveal a limited relationship between these factors and explanation needs. Two significant correlations were identified: Emotional reactivity was positively correlated with the need for UI explanations, while a negative correlation was found between age and user interface needs. Contribution: As we only find very few significant aspects that influence the need for explanations, we conclude that the need for explanations is very subjective and does only partially depend on objective factors. These findings emphasize the necessity for software companies to actively gather user-specific explainability requirements to address diverse and context-dependent user demands. Nevertheless, future research should explore additional personal traits and cross-cultural factors to inform the development of adaptive, user-centered explanation systems.

Keywords

    explainability, mood analysis, software engineering, survey study, user experience

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Cite this

Do Users’ Explainability Needs in Software Change with Mood? / Obaidi, Martin; Droste, Jakob; Deters, Hannah et al.
Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality - 31st International Working Conference, REFSQ 2025, Proceedings. ed. / Anne Hess; Angelo Susi. Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2025. p. 56-71 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; Vol. 15588 LNCS).

Research output: Chapter in book/report/conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Research › peer review

Obaidi, M, Droste, J, Deters, H, Herrmann, M, Klünder, J & Schneider, K 2025, Do Users’ Explainability Needs in Software Change with Mood? in A Hess & A Susi (eds), Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality - 31st International Working Conference, REFSQ 2025, Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 15588 LNCS, Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, pp. 56-71, 31st International Working Conference on Requirements Engineering, Barcelona, Spain, 7 Apr 2025. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-88531-0_5
Obaidi, M., Droste, J., Deters, H., Herrmann, M., Klünder, J., & Schneider, K. (2025). Do Users’ Explainability Needs in Software Change with Mood? In A. Hess, & A. Susi (Eds.), Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality - 31st International Working Conference, REFSQ 2025, Proceedings (pp. 56-71). (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; Vol. 15588 LNCS). Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-88531-0_5
Obaidi M, Droste J, Deters H, Herrmann M, Klünder J, Schneider K. Do Users’ Explainability Needs in Software Change with Mood? In Hess A, Susi A, editors, Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality - 31st International Working Conference, REFSQ 2025, Proceedings. Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. 2025. p. 56-71. (Lecture Notes in Computer Science). doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-88531-0_5
Obaidi, Martin ; Droste, Jakob ; Deters, Hannah et al. / Do Users’ Explainability Needs in Software Change with Mood?. Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality - 31st International Working Conference, REFSQ 2025, Proceedings. editor / Anne Hess ; Angelo Susi. Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2025. pp. 56-71 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science).
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AU - Droste, Jakob

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AU - Herrmann, Marc

AU - Klünder, Jil

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