CAPM Business Analysis Frameworks Practice Question
Which THREE techniques are commonly used for requirements elicitation?
⚠ Common exam trap
PMI often tests the distinction between requirements elicitation techniques and project management tools, so candidates mistakenly select SWOT analysis or Gantt charts because they are familiar terms, even though they are not used for eliciting requirements.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Surveys
Surveys, brainstorming, and interviews are all commonly used requirements elicitation techniques. Surveys efficiently gather input from a large number of stakeholders, brainstorming facilitates creative idea generation in a group setting, and interviews allow for in-depth exploration of individual stakeholder needs. SWOT analysis and Gantt charts are not elicitation techniques; they are used for strategic analysis and project scheduling, respectively.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Surveys
Why this is correct
Surveys gather structured input from many distributed stakeholders efficiently, satisfying the elicitation need to collect broad requirements data. They suit large or geographically dispersed groups where interviews are impractical, and responses can be analysed for common themes and priorities.
- ✗
SWOT analysis
Why it's wrong here
SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool that examines internal strengths and weaknesses against external opportunities and threats; it does not gather stakeholder requirements. It would be the right choice when assessing an organisation's competitive position before setting strategy. The question asks for elicitation techniques such as interviews, workshops and prototyping, which draw requirements directly from stakeholders.
- ✓
Brainstorming
Why this is correct
Brainstorming gathers requirements by having stakeholders generate ideas freely in a group session, encouraging broad participation before any filtering. It suits elicitation because it surfaces diverse needs and uncovers requirements that structured interviews or document analysis alone may miss.
- ✓
Interviews
Why this is correct
Interviews elicit requirements through direct dialogue with stakeholders, allowing follow-up probing that uncovers detailed, often tacit needs. This satisfies the elicitation requirement by capturing rich qualitative information and clarifying ambiguities that written techniques cannot resolve.
- ✗
Gantt charts
Why it's wrong here
Gantt charts schedule activities and track progress against time; they do not gather stakeholder needs. Elicitation draws requirements from people through interviews, workshops and observation, whereas Gantt charts belong to schedule development once scope is already defined.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 451 original CAPM practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CAPM practice question is part of Courseiva's free PMI certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CAPM exam.