Software engineering processes depend on the context they are applied in. Thus, it is risky to determine the best processes for a given project context without empirical data from this context. This report summarizes important issues on the state of the art in empirical studies in order to provide researchers with the background to conduct their own empirical studies and for practitioners to classify existing empirical studies regarding their usefulness.
This report gives an overview on the state of the art in empirical studies in software engineering by prescribing a high-level process for empirical studies, which is refined for the three most often used empirical strategies: Controlled experiments, case studies, and surveys. For each strategy this work discusses representative application reports.
The appendix lists a glossary of empirical vocabulary, a standard report outline, a bibliography, and experimental material available on-line.
Authors: Bernd Freimut, Teade Punter, Stefan Biffl, Marcus Ciolkowski
