Professional Documents
Culture Documents
SE Research PDF
SE Research PDF
Case studies
Example Experience My result has been used on real examples by someone other than me, and the evidence
of its correctness / usefulness / effectiveness is
narrative
Persuasion
data, usually statistical, on practice
Is X always true of Y? Empirical model Check proof Validity and reliability of empirical studies
Selection Formally model Y Experience Measurements
and prove X
Research in-the-small
Case Studies Empirical Research Methods
Researchers observe a phenomena in a real-life
Researchers
context
Control/observe Observe
E.g. collecting data about an ongoing project Design
Independent variables
Study Dependent variables
Confounding factors
Internal Validity External Validity
Establishing the domain to which a studies findings can be
Researchers generalized
Can an experiment using students as subjects be generalized
Control/observe Observe
Design to software professionals?
Can a case study of one project be generalized to other
projects in
Independent variables
Study Dependent variables The same/other organization
Confounding factors The same/other application domains
The same/other countries
Soft science
Case studies needs careful documentation, multiple-case
studies can strengthen results