Analyzing the Students’ Perception of UML Diagrams: Instruments Used in Evaluation

Unified Modeling Language (UML) has been adopted as a standard modeling language in the software industry for the graphical representation of analysis and design models. Due to its importance, UML is taught in most undergraduate majors in Software Engineering and Computing. However, little is known about the students’ perception regarding the UML diagrams. We conducted an exploratory study to investigate the students’ perception regarding UML diagrams acceptance. In this study, we investigated five UML diagrams taught for the undergraduate students from Federal University of Amazonas. These UML diagrams are: class diagrams, use case diagrams (and specifications), sequence diagrams, state machine diagrams, and activity diagrams. In order to evaluate the perceptions of senior undergraduate students on UML diagrams and thus help instructors improving the teaching of its importance, we applied Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) questionnaires. This technical report presents the TAM questionnaires for each UML diagram. Thus, other researchers may replicate it, providing outcomes in different contexts.

统一建模语言（Unified Modeling Language, UML）已被软件行业采纳为用于分析与设计模型图形化表示的标准建模语言。鉴于其重要性，绝大多数软件工程与计算机类本科专业均开设UML相关课程。然而，目前学界对学生针对UML图的认知了解甚少。为此，我们开展了一项探索性研究，以探究学生对UML图的接受度认知。本研究针对巴西亚马孙联邦大学（Federal University of Amazonas）的本科生于课堂所学的五类UML图展开调研，分别为：类图、用例图（含规格说明）、顺序图、状态机图与活动图。为评估高年级本科生对UML图的认知，并助力教师优化相关课程教学以凸显UML的重要性，我们采用了技术接受模型（Technology Acceptance Model, TAM）问卷开展调研。本技术报告针对每一类UML图均附上了对应的TAM问卷，以供其他研究者复刻研究并在不同场景下获取相关研究成果。