10.29327/1588952.28-29
Requirements elicitation is the process through which engineers interact with information sources to acquire knowledge about a specific domain. In the early stages of software projects, it is uncommon for engineers to elicit non-functional requirements (NFRs) as first-class requirements, as this often demands time and articulation that stakeholders may not readily provide. Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, trained on massive textual datasets, offer a promising opportunity to support this process by generating coherent and context-relevant information about qualities that are key to a given domain problem. In this study, we explore the potential of ChatGPT as an information source for eliciting NFRs related to responsible fact-checking in journalism. Using a previously constructed reference model - developed by the first co-author during a series of Design Thinking sessions with journalism professionals - as a gold standard, three requirements engineering experts, none of whom were familiar with the domain, conducted individual chat sessions with ChatGPT and independently constructed Softgoal Interdependency Graphs (SIGs). Our findings go beyond a simple comparison with the gold standard. While some softgoals consistently emerged across sessions (e.g., trust, accuracy, transparency), participants also uncovered quality concerns such as integrity, dignity, and fairness - elements not explicitly included in the original model. These highlight risks that fact-checking practices must proactively mitigate and offer a broader understanding of relevant qualities in the domain. Additionally, the absence of certain softgoals from the LLM-generated models underscores the importance of human–AI collaboration to improve the completeness and contextual richness of SIGs.
Keywords: Non-Functional Requirements; Large Language Models (LLMs); Responsible Fact-Checking; Elicitation
@inproceedings{wer202528, author = {Portugal, R. L. Q. and Silva, L. F. and Sousa, H. P. and Almentero, E.}, title = {Utilizing LLMs for Early-Stage Qualities Elicitation: A Study on Responsible Fact-Checking in Journalism}, booktitle = {Anais do Workshop em Engenharia de Requisitos - Proceedings of the 28th Workshop on Requirements Engineering (WER2025)}, year = {2025}, issn = {2675-0066}, isbn = {978-65-01-52831-1}, doi = {10.29327/1588952.28-29} }