Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Experiences from conducting rapid reviews in collaboration with practitioners — Two industrial cases

Rico, Sergio LU orcid ; bin Ali, Nauman ; Engström, Emelie LU orcid and Höst, Martin LU (2024) In Information and Software Technology 167.
Abstract

Context: Evidence-based software engineering (EBSE) aims to improve research utilization in practice. It relies on systematic methods to identify, appraise, and synthesize existing research findings to answer questions of interest for practice. However, the lack of practitioners’ involvement in these studies’ design, execution, and reporting indicates a lack of appreciation for the need for knowledge exchange between researchers and practitioners. The resultant systematic literature studies often lack relevance for practice. Objective: This paper explores the use of Rapid Reviews (RRs), in fostering knowledge exchange between academia and industry. Through the lens of two case studies, we delve into the practical application and... (More)

Context: Evidence-based software engineering (EBSE) aims to improve research utilization in practice. It relies on systematic methods to identify, appraise, and synthesize existing research findings to answer questions of interest for practice. However, the lack of practitioners’ involvement in these studies’ design, execution, and reporting indicates a lack of appreciation for the need for knowledge exchange between researchers and practitioners. The resultant systematic literature studies often lack relevance for practice. Objective: This paper explores the use of Rapid Reviews (RRs), in fostering knowledge exchange between academia and industry. Through the lens of two case studies, we delve into the practical application and experience of conducting RRs. Methods: We analyzed the conduct of two rapid reviews by two different groups of researchers and practitioners. We collected data through interviews, and the documents produced during the review (like review protocols, search results, and presentations). The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: We report how the two groups of researchers and practitioners performed the rapid reviews. We observed some benefits, like promoting dialogue and paving the way for future collaborations. We also found that practitioners entrusted the researchers to develop and follow a rigorous approach and were more interested in the applicability of the findings in their context. The problems investigated in these two cases were relevant but not the most immediate ones. Therefore, rapidness was not a priority for the practitioners. Conclusion: The study illustrates that rapid reviews can support researcher-practitioner communication and industry-academia collaboration. Furthermore, the recommendations based on the experiences from the two cases complement the detailed guidelines researchers and practitioners may follow to increase interaction and knowledge exchange.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Industry-academia collaboration, Literature reviews, Rapid reviews, Research relevance, Systematic review
in
Information and Software Technology
volume
167
article number
107364
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85178453626
ISSN
0950-5849
DOI
10.1016/j.infsof.2023.107364
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s)
id
f143da82-ab96-478e-bd42-41fff335a08c
date added to LUP
2024-07-31 14:01:16
date last changed
2024-08-06 16:38:04
@article{f143da82-ab96-478e-bd42-41fff335a08c,
  abstract     = {{<p>Context: Evidence-based software engineering (EBSE) aims to improve research utilization in practice. It relies on systematic methods to identify, appraise, and synthesize existing research findings to answer questions of interest for practice. However, the lack of practitioners’ involvement in these studies’ design, execution, and reporting indicates a lack of appreciation for the need for knowledge exchange between researchers and practitioners. The resultant systematic literature studies often lack relevance for practice. Objective: This paper explores the use of Rapid Reviews (RRs), in fostering knowledge exchange between academia and industry. Through the lens of two case studies, we delve into the practical application and experience of conducting RRs. Methods: We analyzed the conduct of two rapid reviews by two different groups of researchers and practitioners. We collected data through interviews, and the documents produced during the review (like review protocols, search results, and presentations). The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: We report how the two groups of researchers and practitioners performed the rapid reviews. We observed some benefits, like promoting dialogue and paving the way for future collaborations. We also found that practitioners entrusted the researchers to develop and follow a rigorous approach and were more interested in the applicability of the findings in their context. The problems investigated in these two cases were relevant but not the most immediate ones. Therefore, rapidness was not a priority for the practitioners. Conclusion: The study illustrates that rapid reviews can support researcher-practitioner communication and industry-academia collaboration. Furthermore, the recommendations based on the experiences from the two cases complement the detailed guidelines researchers and practitioners may follow to increase interaction and knowledge exchange.</p>}},
  author       = {{Rico, Sergio and bin Ali, Nauman and Engström, Emelie and Höst, Martin}},
  issn         = {{0950-5849}},
  keywords     = {{Industry-academia collaboration; Literature reviews; Rapid reviews; Research relevance; Systematic review}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Information and Software Technology}},
  title        = {{Experiences from conducting rapid reviews in collaboration with practitioners — Two industrial cases}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2023.107364}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.infsof.2023.107364}},
  volume       = {{167}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}