Software engineering practice versus evidence-based software engineering research

Authors:
Austen Rainer;Dorota Jagielska;Tracy Hall
Affiliations:
University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, UK;University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, UK;University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, UK
Venue:
REBSE '05 Proceedings of the 2005 workshop on Realising evidence-based software engineering
Year:
2005

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Abstract

In this paper, we review four examples in software engineering practice of the lack of use of empirical evidence. We use these examples to support our claims that practitioners and researchers appear to have different values with regards to empirical evidence, and appear to use different criteria when evaluating the credibility of evidence. From our examples, it seems that practitioners need to be persuaded to adopt evidence-based software engineering practices. Consequently, the research community needs to consider strategies for persuading practitioners. Paradoxically for software engineering research, the more effective persuasion strategies may be ones that, initially at least, do not rely on empirical evidence.