This book gathers chapters from some of the top international empirical software engineering researchers focusing on the practical knowledge necessary for conducting, reporting and using empirical methods in software engineering. Topics and features include guidance on how to design, conduct and report empirical studies. The volume also provides information across a range of techniques, methods and qualitative and quantitative issues to help build a toolkit applicable to the diverse software development contexts

This book presents contemporary empirical methods in software engineering related to the plurality of research methodologies, human factors, data collection and processing, aggregation and synthesis of evidence, and impact of software engineering research. The individual chapters discuss methods that impact the current evolution of empirical software engineering and form the backbone of future research. Following an introductory chapter that outlines the background of and developments in empirical software engineering over the last 50 years and provides an overview of the subsequent contributions, the remainder of the book is divided into four parts: Study Strategies (including e.g. guidelines for surveys or design science); Data Collection, Production, and Analysis (highlighting approaches from e.g. data science, biometric measurement, and simulation-based studies); Knowledge Acquisition and Aggregation (highlighting literature research, threats to validity, and evidence aggregation); and Knowledge Transfer (discussing open science and knowledge transfer with industry). Empirical methods like experimentation have become a powerful means of advancing the field of software engineering by providing scientific evidence on software development, operation, and maintenance, but also by supporting practitioners in their decision-making and learning processes. Thus the book is equally suitable for academics aiming to expand the field and for industrial researchers and practitioners looking for novel ways to check the validity of their assumptions and experiences. Chapter 17 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

In the Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK(R) Guide), the IEEE Computer Society establishes a baseline for the body of knowledge for the field of software engineering, and the work supports the Society's responsibility to promote the advancement of both theory and practice in this field. It should be noted that the Guide does not purport to define the body of knowledge but rather to serve as a compendium and guide to the knowledge that has been developing and evolving over the past four decades. Now in Version 3.0, the Guide's 15 knowledge areas summarize generally accepted topics and list references for detailed information. The editors for Version 3.0 of the SWEBOK(R) Guide are Pierre Bourque (Ecole de technologie superieure (ETS), Universite du Quebec) and Richard E. (Dick) Fairley (Software and Systems Engineering Associates (S2EA)).

Based on their own experiences of in-depth case studies of softwareprojects in international corporations, in this book theauthors present detailed practical guidelines on the preparation,conduct, design and reporting of case studies of softwareengineering. This is the first software engineering specificbook on the case study research method.

In the decade since the idea of adapting the evidence-based paradigm for software engineering was first proposed, it has become a major tool of empirical software engineering. Evidence-Based Software Engineering and Systematic Reviews provides a clear introduction to the use of an evidence-based model for software engineering research and practice.

On behalf of the PROFES Organizing Committee we are proud to present the proce- th ings of the 10 International Conference on Product Focused Software Process - provement (PROFES 2009), held in Oulu, Finland. Since the first conference in 1999, the conference has established its place in the software engineering community as a respected conference that brings together participants from academia and industry. The roots of PROFES are in professional software process improvement motivated by product and service quality needs. The conference addresses both the solutions found in practice as well as relevant research results from academia. To ensure that PROFES retains its high quality and focus on the most relevant research issues, the conference has actively maintained close collaboration with industry and sub- quently widened its scope to the research areas of collaborative and agile software development. A special focus for 2009 was placed on software business to bridge research and practice in the economics of software engineering. This enabled us to cover software development in a more comprehensive manner and tackle one of the most important current challenges identified by the software industry and software research community – namely, the shift of focus from “products” to “services. ” The current global economic downturn emphasizes the need for new methods and so- tions for fast and business-oriented development of products and services in a gl- ally distributed environment.

Annotation This handbook presents the laws that significantly impact software engineering. This book begins with requirements definitions and concludes with maintenance and withdrawal. Along the way, it identifies and discusses existing laws that significantly impact software engineering. Software engineers who wish to reacquaint (or ecquaint) themselves with the basic laws of software engineering and their applicability in an industrial setting.