Empirical Software Engineering Issues. Critical Assessment and Future Directions

1. Front Matter

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2. Session 1 The Empirical Paradigm

   1. The Empirical Paradigm Introduction

      • Dieter Rombach

      Pages 1-3

3. Approaches for Empirical Validation

   1. Techniques for Empirical Validation

      • Marvin V. Zelkowitz

      Pages 4-9

   2. Status of Empirical Research in Software Engineering

      • Andreas Höfer, Walter F. Tichy

      Pages 10-19

4. Position Papers

   1. Aggregation of Empirical Evidence

      • Marcus Ciolkowski

      Pages 20-20

   2. Empirical Evaluation in Software Engineering: Role, Strategy, and Limitations

      • Lionel C. Briand

      Pages 21-21

   3. New Opportunities for Empirical Research

      • Markku Oivo

      Pages 22-22

   4. Empirical Paradigm: Position Paper

      • Carolyn B. Seaman

      Pages 23-23

   5. The Value of Empirical Evidence for Practitioners and Researchers

      • Austen Rainer

      Pages 24-24

5. Exploration Versus Confirmation

   1. Empirical Paradigm – The Role of Experiments

      • Barbara Kitchenham

      Pages 25-32

   2. The Role of Controlled Experiments in Software Engineering Research

      • Victor R. Basili

      Pages 33-37

6. Position Papers

   1. Creating Real Value in Software Engineering Experiments

      • James Miller

      Pages 38-38

   2. From Silver Bullets to Philosophers’ Stones: Who Wants to Be Just an Empiricist?

      • Guilherme H. Travassos

      Pages 39-39

   3. Social and Human Aspects of Software Engineering

      • Helen Sharp

      Pages 40-40

   4. Longitudinal Studies in Evidence-Based Software Engineering

      • Tracy Hall

      Pages 41-41

   5. The Use of Grounded Theory in Empirical Software Engineering

      • Jeffrey Carver

      Pages 42-42

7. Historical Review

   1. Exploration and Confirmation: An Historical Perspective

      • Michael S. Mahoney

      Pages 43-49

8. Working Group Results

   1. Combining Study Designs and Techniques Working Group Results

      • Carolyn B. Seaman

      Pages 50-53

   2. Optimizing Return-On-Investment (ROI) for Empirical Software Engineering Studies Working Group Results

      • Lutz Prechelt

      Pages 54-57

   3. The Role of Controlled Experiments Working Group Results

      • Andreas Jedlitschka, Lionel C. Briand

      Pages 58-62

Victor R. Basili, Dieter Rombach, and Kurt Schneider Introduction In 1992, a Dagstuhl seminar was held on “Experimental Software Engineering Issues” (seminar no. 9238). Its goal was to discuss the state of the art of empirical software engineering (ESE) by assessing past accomplishments, raising open questions, and proposing a future research agenda. Since 1992, the topic of ESE has been adopted more widely by academia as an interesting and promising research topic, and in industrial practice as a necessary infrastructure technology for goal-oriented, sustained process improvement. At the same time, the spectrum of methods applied in ESE has broadened. For example, in 1992, the empirical methods applied in software engineering were basically restricted to quantitative studies (mostly controlled experiments), whereas since then, a range of qualitative methods have been introduced, from observational to ethnographical studies. Thus, the field can be said to have moved from experimental to empirical software engineering. We believe that it is now time to again bring together practitioners and researchers to identify both the progress made since 1992 and the most important challenges for the next five to ten years.

• Open Source
• design
• development
• experimental software engineering
• failure rate
• model
• productivity
• project management
• quality of service
• repositories
• simulation
• software
• software engineering
• validation
• visualization

Policies and ethics