Related papers: Qualitative software engineering research -- refle…
Modern science is relying on software more than ever. The behavior and outcomes of this software shape the scientific and public discourse on important topics like climate change, economic growth, or the spread of infections. Most…
Context: Software engineering researchers and practitioners rely on empirical evidence from the field. Thus, education of software engineers must include strong and applied education in empirical research methods. For most students, the…
We review discourses about the philosophy of science in qualitative research and evidence from cognitive linguistics in order to ground a framework for discussing the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) to support the qualitative analysis…
Mixed methods research is often used in software engineering, but researchers outside of the social or human sciences often lack experience when using these designs. This paper provides guiding principles and advice on how to design mixed…
There have been recent calls for research on the human side of software engineering and its impact on various factors such as productivity, developer happiness and project success. An analysis of which challenges in software engineering…
As the utilization of language models in interdisciplinary, human-centered studies grow, expectations of their capabilities continue to evolve. Beyond excelling at conventional tasks, models are now expected to perform well on user-centric…
In the domain of software engineering, our efforts as researchers to advise industry on which software practices might be applied most effectively are limited by our lack of evidence based information about the relationships between context…
Humour has long been recognized as a key factor in enhancing creativity, group effectiveness, and employee well-being across various domains. However, its occurrence and impact within software engineering (SE) teams remains under-explored.…
Reliable empirical models such as those used in software effort estimation or defect prediction are inherently dependent on the data from which they are built. As demands for process and product improvement continue to grow, the quality of…
The tension between qualitative theorizing and quantitative methods is pervasive in the social sciences, and poses a constant challenge to empirical research. But in science studies as an interdisciplinary specialty, there are additional…
Systematic literature studies have received much attention in empirical software engineering in recent years. They have become a powerful tool to collect and structure reported knowledge in a systematic and reproducible way. We distinguish…
Software security is of utmost importance for most software systems. Developers must systematically select, plan, design, implement, and especially, maintain and evolve security features -- functionalities to mitigate attacks or protect…
Statistical analysis is the tool of choice to turn data into information, and then information into empirical knowledge. To be valid, the process that goes from data to knowledge should be supported by detailed, rigorous guidelines, which…
Building software that can support the huge growth in data and computation required by modern research needs individuals with increasingly specialist skill sets that take time to develop and maintain. The Research Software Engineering…
Software is vital for the advancement of biology and medicine. Analysis of usage and impact metrics can help developers determine user and community engagement, justify additional funding, encourage additional use, identify unanticipated…
Context: Over the last decade, software researchers and engineers have developed a vast body of methodologies and technologies in requirements engineering for self-adaptive systems. Although existing studies have explored various aspects of…
The potential disconnect between research and practice in software engineering (SE) means that the uptake of research outcomes has at times been limited. In this paper we seek to identify research approaches that are rigorous in terms of…
CONTEXT: There is growing interest in establishing software engineering as an evidence-based discipline. To that end, replication is often used to gain confidence in empirical findings, as opposed to reproduction where the goal is showing…
Background: Previous research highlights that common misconceptions about developer productivity lead to harmful and inaccurate evaluations of software work, pointing to the need for organizations to differentiate between measures of…
The use of agile principles and practices in software development is becoming a powerful force in today's workplace. In our quest to develop better products, therefore, it is imperative that we strive to learn and understand the application…