Qualitative methods in empirical studies of software engineering
Seaman, C.B.
Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on
Volume 25, Issue 4, Jul/Aug 1999 Page(s):557 - 572
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/32.799955
Summary:While empirical studies in software engineering are beginning to
gain recognition in the research community, this subarea is also
entering a new level of maturity by beginning to address the human
aspects of software development. This added focus has added a new layer
of complexity to an already challenging area of research. Along with new
research questions, new research methods are needed to study
nontechnical aspects of software engineering. In many other disciplines,
qualitative research methods have been developed and are commonly used
to handle the complexity of issues involving human behaviour. The paper
presents several qualitative methods for data collection and analysis
and describes them in terms of how they might be incorporated into
empirical studies of software engineering, in particular how they might
be combined with quantitative methods. To illustrate this use of
qualitative methods, examples from real software engineering studies are
used throughout
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