Classification of Reading Techniques

Typically, reviewers are not told how to read, what to look for, or for what they are really responsible. These issues can be used to classify and characterize reading techniques [PVB]:

• Strategy
  One way to characterize a reading technique is the strategy which is used. There are several strategies for detecting defects in a document. The characteristic which is used here is the degree of prescriptiveness. We can distinguish between systematic and non-systematic techniques to finding defects.
• Reviewer responsibility
  A second way of characterizing reading techniques is the responsibility each reviewer has to find defects of a specific class. The characteristic which is used here is breadth of scope. We can distinguish between a specific and a general approach to find defects.
• Coordination policy
  The third way of characterizing reading techniques is the coordination policy: How are different responsibilities assigned to review team members? The characteristic which is used here is the degree of overlap. We can distinguish between distinct responsibilities and identical responsibilities.

• non-systematic
• general
• identical

• systematic - the reader knows how to read
• specific - the reader is focused to look for a specific defect class
• distinct - there is minimal overlap among several readers.

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