Aligning the Views of Research Quality in Empirical Software Engineering

• Context: Research quality is intended to assess the design and reporting of studies. It comprises a series of concepts such as methodological rigor, practical relevance, and conformance to ethical standards. Depending on the perspective, different views of importance are given to the conceptual dimensions of research quality.Objective: We intend to assess the level of alignment between researchers with regard to a conceptual model of research quality. This includes aligning the definition of research quality and reasoning on the relative importance of quality characteristics.Method: We conducted a mixed methods approach comprising an internal case study and a complementary focus group. We carried out a hierarchical voting prioritization based on the conceptual model to collect relative values for importance. In the focus group, we also moderate discussions with experts to address potential misalignment.Results: The alignment at the research group level was higher compared to that at community level. Moreover, the interdisciplinary conceptual quality model was seeing to express fairly the quality of research, but presented limitations regarding its structure and components' description, which resulted in an updated model. Conclusion: The interdisciplinary model used was suitable for the software engineering context. The process used for reflecting on the alignment of quality with respect to definitions and priorities was working well. 

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Programvaruteknik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Software Engineering (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Research Quality

Alignment

Mixed Method

Case Study

Focus Group

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

ovr (ämneskategori)