Uncovering theories in software engineering

Abstract

Abstract-There has been a growing interest in the role of theory within Software Engineering (SE) research. For several decades, researchers within the SE research community have argued that, to become a real engineering science, SE needs to develop stronger theoretical foundations. A few authors have proposed guidelines for constructing theories, building on insights from other disciplines. However, so far, much SE research is not guided by explicit theory, nor does it produce explicit theory. In this paper we argue that SE research does, in fact, show traces of theory, which we call theory fragments. We have adapted an analytical framework from the social sciences, named the Validity Network Schema (VNS), that we use to illustrate the role of theorizing in SE research. We illustrate the use of this framework by dissecting three well known research papers, each of which has had significant impact on their respective subdisciplines. We conclude this paper by outlining a number of implications for future SE research, and show how by increasing awareness and training, development of SE theories can be improved.

Human factors in software development: On its underlying theories and the value of learning from related disciplines. A guest editorial introduction to the special issue

“…Despite this and the historical roots and traditions in CS and SE, in the specific case of Human Factors in SD, we think that it is justifiable and worthwhile for empirical SE researchers to borrow from the wealth of knowledge in the social and behavioural sciences. First, such theories are good for informing the design of new empirical studies, which might have the long term benefit of helping the research literature converge on a particular topic (or research question), as Stol and Fitzgerald [23] indicate. Second, borrowed theories can contribute to the development of SE-specific frameworks potentially useful to empirical SE researchers for organizing existing concepts from the literature, or in assisting in the development Table 1 The top 10 most cited works in our corpus.…”

“…In recent years, theory, as understood in the field of sciences, has gained popularity in the field of empirical SE [21][22][23]. Members of the International Empirical Software Engineering Research Network (ISERN) engaged increasingly more and more into research initiatives that aim to formulate theories, evaluating theories and evaluating the use of theories in the field [29].…”

A design theory for software engineering

“…Instead, he suggests that 'middle-range' theories are more usable by practitioners. The case for middle-range theories is also made by Stol and Fitzgerald [9,10], who describe them as stepping stones towards a more general and inclusive theory.…”

Investigating a conceptual construct for software context

“…Her investigations resulted in a taxonomy of theory types along with a proposed list of structural components of a theory. Stol and Fitzgerald argue that SE research does, in fact, exhibit traces of theory and suggest that the current focus on evidence based software engineering (EBSE) must be combined with a theoryfocussed research approach to support explanation and prediction [40].…”