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Guidelines for conducting and reporting case study research in software engineering

Runeson, Per LU orcid and Höst, Martin LU (2009) In Empirical Software Engineering 14(2). p.131-164
Abstract
Case study is a suitable research methodology for software engineering research

since it studies contemporary phenomena in its natural context. However, the understanding of what constitutes a case study varies, and hence the quality of the resulting studies. This paper aims at providing an introduction to case study methodology and guidelines for researchers conducting case studies and readers studying reports of such studies. The content is based on the authors’ own experience from conducting and reading case studies. The terminology and guidelines are compiled from different methodology handbooks in other research domains, in particular social science and information systems, and adapted to the needs in software engineering. We... (More)
Case study is a suitable research methodology for software engineering research

since it studies contemporary phenomena in its natural context. However, the understanding of what constitutes a case study varies, and hence the quality of the resulting studies. This paper aims at providing an introduction to case study methodology and guidelines for researchers conducting case studies and readers studying reports of such studies. The content is based on the authors’ own experience from conducting and reading case studies. The terminology and guidelines are compiled from different methodology handbooks in other research domains, in particular social science and information systems, and adapted to the needs in software engineering. We present recommended practices for software engineering case studies as well as empirically derived and evaluated checklists for researchers and readers of case study research. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Empirical Software Engineering
volume
14
issue
2
pages
131 - 164
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • wos:000263892100001
  • scopus:61849169018
ISSN
1573-7616
DOI
10.1007/s10664-008-9102-8
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
216a6bb2-bb55-4f2a-a9a1-a4079268ae80 (old id 1276781)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 12:14:01
date last changed
2022-04-29 02:07:04
@article{216a6bb2-bb55-4f2a-a9a1-a4079268ae80,
  abstract     = {{Case study is a suitable research methodology for software engineering research<br/><br>
since it studies contemporary phenomena in its natural context. However, the understanding of what constitutes a case study varies, and hence the quality of the resulting studies. This paper aims at providing an introduction to case study methodology and guidelines for researchers conducting case studies and readers studying reports of such studies. The content is based on the authors’ own experience from conducting and reading case studies. The terminology and guidelines are compiled from different methodology handbooks in other research domains, in particular social science and information systems, and adapted to the needs in software engineering. We present recommended practices for software engineering case studies as well as empirically derived and evaluated checklists for researchers and readers of case study research.}},
  author       = {{Runeson, Per and Höst, Martin}},
  issn         = {{1573-7616}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{131--164}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Empirical Software Engineering}},
  title        = {{Guidelines for conducting and reporting case study research in software engineering}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/2838283/1276782.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s10664-008-9102-8}},
  volume       = {{14}},
  year         = {{2009}},
}