Analyzing the statisticians: a User's survey for the analysis and the development of the required methodological framework

In recent years, rapid acquisition of information and, subsequently, data sets has taken place making, thus, necessary the use of statistical software in many scientific and professional fields. However, not all users of statistical software have the prerequisite statistical background in order to efficiently deal with them. So, the need for a "semi-expert" system which will be able to guide "non-expert" users through the phases of choosing and performing statistical analyses up to the interpretation of results has been discussed at the past. In the present paper we concentrate on the consolidation of user requirement for such a software. Our methodology for capturing user requirements has been consisted of several actions. Here we focus on the findings of a large-extent questionnaire survey that has been conducted in the framework of our analysis.