Applying the Software Development Life Cycle to Design WeResearch: A Unified Research Environment

Abstract

The growing demand for effective academic collaboration tools highlights the need for unified digital environments that support communication, resource sharing, and knowledge management. This study applies the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) framework to the design and prototyping of WeResearch, a unified research environment tailored to researchers’ needs. A qualitative methodology was employed, combining insights from prior studies with semi-structured interviews conducted with ten researchers from diverse disciplines. The interviews identified critical requirements for research collaboration, including seamless communication, collaborative task management, and intuitive navigation. Based on these requirements, a prototype of WeResearch was designed to visualize platform functionalities and user experience. The SDLC phases of planning, requirements analysis, design, and prototyping were applied to ensure a structured development process. The prototype was then tested with the same group of researchers, whose feedback provided valuable insights into usability and relevance. Findings suggest that the proposed design aligns strongly with user needs, offering solutions to gaps present in existing research collaboration platforms. This study contributes by integrating qualitative needs assessment with the SDLC framework in the academic context, addressing researchers’ needs, software requirements, and full prototype design to support a unified research collaboration platform across world universities.