Ronnie E. S. Santos
Cleyton V. C. de Magalhães
Fabio Q. B. da Silva
ABSTRACT
Context. A decade ago, Kitchenham, Dybå and Jørgensen argued that software engineering could benefit from an evidence-based research approach similar that that used in medicine, introducing the basis for Evidence Based Software Engineering (EBSE). Objective. Our main goal is to understand the evolution of the use of systematic reviews as the main research method in EBSE, as proposed by Kitchenham et al., by investigating primary and tertiary studies that explore any aspect, theory, or concept around the use of systematic reviews in software engineering. Method. A systematic mapping study protocol was used to find and selected studies about EBSE and systematic reviews in SE, published between 2004 and 2013. Results. We selected 52 unique papers classified as non-empirical studies (12), empirical studies (31), and tertiary studies (9). Conclusion. SLR has become an important component of software engineering research with nearly 200 unique reviews catalogued by the tertiary studies. Most important limitations are related to the industrial relevance and application of the results of reviews and the poor use of synthesis method to aggregate evidence
- Kitchenham, B.; Dybå, T.; Jorgensen, M. Evidence-based Software engineering, in: 26th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE), 2004, pp. 273--281. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- Kitchenham, B. and Charters, S. Guidelines for performing systematic literature reviews in software engineering. 2007. Technical Report EBSE-2007-01, School of Computer Science and Mathematics, Keele University.Google Scholar
- da Silva, F. Q. B. et al. Six years of systematic literature reviews in software engineering: An updated tertiary study. Inform Software Tech 53, 899--913 Google ScholarDigital Library
- B. Kitchenham et al., Systematic literature reviews in software engineering -- a systematic literature review, Inform Software Tech 51 (2009), 7--15. Google ScholarDigital Library
- B. Kitchenham et al., Literature reviews in software engineering -- a tertiary study, Inform Software Tech 52 (8) (2010) 792--805. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Cruzes, D. S.; Dybå, T. Research synthesis in software engineering: A tertiary study. Inform Software Tech 53 (2011), 440--455 Google ScholarDigital Library
- Kitchenham, B.; Brereton, P. A systematic review of systematic review process research in software engineering. Inform Software Tech 55 (2013) 2049--2075. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Mendes, E. A systematic review of Web engineering research. ISESE 2005: 498--507.Google Scholar
- Santos, R. E. S., da Silva, F. Q. B. Motivation to Perform Systematic Reviews and their Impact on Software Engineering Practice. ACM/IEEE International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement, pp. 292--295, 2013.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Santos, Ronnie E. S., da Silva, Fabio Q. B, Magalhães, Cleyton V. C.. Appendices of: Ten Years of Evidence Based Software Engineering: A Literature Review. HASE Technical Report No. 2014-001. Available at: http://goo.gl/Z2LlxeGoogle Scholar
Index Terms
- The use of systematic reviews in evidence based software engineering: a systematic mapping study
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