contradict the results obtained. The ease of use
questionnaire was designed using standard questions
and scales that have been shown to be highly reliable.
7 CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE
WORK
Two research approaches were used to compare CM
validation tools based on UML class diagrams. First,
a theoretical analysis of the characteristics of these
tools was carried out using several criteria, i.e., they
had to be free license tools that support the creation
and execution of CM validation test cases. The
second research approach was to conduct an
empirical evaluation to compare the effectiveness,
efficiency and ease of use perceived by USE and
OCLE users.
The experimental evaluation reported notable
differences in the programs’ effectiveness, efficiency
and ease of use with OCLE achieving a better score.
As a future work, we plan to extend this study
considering other UML modelling tools (including
commercial tools) and also integrating other UML
diagrams to represent a conceptual model (e.g.,
activity, sequence), to see whether the results of this
study can be generalized. Finally, we intend to
implement a new validation tool that combines the
most outstanding functions of the different tools
analysed and solve any deficiencies found in them.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work has been supported by the Dirección de
Investigación de la Universidad de Cuenca (DIUC) –
Ecuador.
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