Which technique is commonly used to elicit requirements from stakeholders?

Prototyping is a widely used technique for eliciting requirements from stakeholders because it allows for the creation of a tangible representation of the system or product being developed. By developing prototypes, which can range from low-fidelity mockups to high-fidelity interactive models, stakeholders can visualize and interact with the potential solution. This interaction often leads to improved communication between the business analyst and stakeholders, as it makes abstract concepts more concrete, allowing stakeholders to provide feedback based on their direct experience with the prototype.

This iterative process helps clarify requirements, uncover misunderstandings, and often reveals needs that stakeholders may not have initially articulated. Additionally, prototypes can serve as tools for evaluation, helping to ensure that requirements align closely with stakeholder expectations and business goals.

In contrast, while the other techniques listed, such as benchmarking, cost-benefit analysis, and data mining, might provide valuable information, they are less focused on direct interaction with stakeholders for the purpose of eliciting requirements. Benchmarking compares processes and performance metrics to industry standards, cost-benefit analysis evaluates financial implications, and data mining extracts patterns from large sets of data. These methods serve different objectives and may complement the requirement-gathering process, but they do not directly facilitate the elicitation of user or business requirements in