Systematic Mapping Study

Empirical studies are essential to fill this gap, providing reliable data about a given technology, easing its transfer and adoption. Thus, it is imperative to encourage the implementation of empirical studies that are able to assess the effectiveness of techniques, methodologies and processes proposed in the area. Experimentation, one kind of empirical study, allows the knowledge to be generated in a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable and controlled way, especially in areas where human interaction is a dominant factor. In this context, Systematic Mapping Studies try to gather all research related to a specific topic. Questions are broader and more general when compared to the ones present on Systematic Literature Reviews (SLRs), for example: What do we know about a topic T?. So, all the artifacts that compose a systematic mapping study performed by this group is presented here.

Useful links:

Kai Petersen et al. discuss how to conduct systematic mapping studies in Software Engineering: http://robertfeldt.net/publications/petersen_ease08_sysmap_studies_in_se.pdf

Studies from our group:

  • Title: Support Mechanisms to Conduct Empirical Studies in Software Engineering (2014)

      • Main author: Alex Nery

      • Master's Dissertation: ?

      • Protocol: Download

      • Published paper: ESEM (Short Paper) 2014

        • Abstract:

            • Context: Empirical studies are gaining recognition in the Software Engineering (SE) research community. In order to foster empirical research, it is essential understand the environments, guidelines, process, and other mechanisms available to support these studies in SE.

            • Goal: Identifying the mechanisms used to support the empirical strategies adopted by the researches in the major Empirical Software Engineering (ESE) scientific venues.

            • Method: We performed a systematic mapping study that included all full papers published at EASE, ESEM and ESEJ since their first editions. A total of 898 studies were selected.

            • Conclusions: The use of empirical methods in SE has increased over the years but many studies do not apply these methods nor use mechanisms to guide their research. Therefore, the list of support mechanisms, where and how they were applied is a major asset to the SE community. Such asset can foster empirical studies aiding the choice regarding which strategies and mechanisms to use in a research. Also, we identified new perspectives and gaps that foster the development of resources to aid empirical studies.

  • Title: How to characterize context of empirical software engineering research?. (2013)

    • Main author: Bruno

    • Master's Dissertation: ?

    • Protocol: Download

    • Published paper (?):

      • Abstract:

Contexto: Estudos empíricos em engenharia de software apresentam problemas no que se refere a caracterização de contexto. Tal situação dificulta a replicação de estudos, interpretação de resultados e adoção de soluções por parte da indústria, por não saber se os resultados se aplicam ao seu ambiente.

Objetivos: Identificar, sintetizar e classificar métodos para caracterizar contexto de estudos empíricos em engenharia de software.

Método: Para alcançar tal objetivo, esse trabalho conduz um mapeamento sistemático da literatura de acordo com as premissas e guias da engenharia de software baseada em evidências.

Conclusões: Após a execução do mapeamento acredita-mos que poderemos disponibilizar alguns métodos de caracterização de contexto, de maneira sintética e baseada em um método sistemático. Tal resultado servirá para guiar pesquisadores que desejem caracterizar o contexto de um estudo empírico que estejam realizando em engenharia de software.

  • Title: ???. (2013)

    • Main author: Nathalia

    • Master's Dissertation: ?

    • Protocol: ?

    • Published paper (?):

      • Abstract: ?

  • Title: ???. (2013)

    • Main author: Ramon

    • Master's Dissertation: ?

    • Protocol: ?

    • Published paper (?):

      • Abstract: ?

  • Title: Atualização da Revisão Sistemática da Literatura em Gerenciemnto de Projetos no Desenvolvimento Distribuído de Software. (2013)

    • Main author: Juliana Braz Da Costa

    • Master's Dissertation: ?

    • Protocol: Download

    • Published paper (?):

      • Abstract: ?

  • Title: ???. (2012)

    • Main author: Aline

    • Master's Dissertation: ?

    • Protocol: ?

    • Published paper (?):

      • Abstract: ?

  • Title: Methods, Techniques and Tools for Developing Educational Software: A Systematic Mapping. (2012)

    • Main author: Flávio Abreu

    • Master's Dissertation: go see it!

    • Protocol: download

    • Published paper (link):

      • Abstract: Despite the wide dissemination, development, and application of

      • software to support classroom education and distance learning in industry and

      • academia, research is needed to investigate technologies that support

      • specifically the development of educational software. This paper presents a

      • systematic mapping study that investigates which types of technologies have

      • been used to assist in the development of educational software. The result of

      • this work generates the technical foundation for, in further research, the

      • development of a methodology or the improvement of existing ones.

  • Title: A Systematic Mapping Study on Aspect-Oriented Software Maintainability Metrics (2011)

    • Main author: Juliana Saraiva

    • Protocol: download

    • Published paper (link):

      • Abstract:

          • Background: Despite the number of empirical studies that assess Aspect-Oriented Software Development (AOSD) techniques, more research is required to investigate, for example, how software maintainability is impacted when these techniques are employed. One way to minimize the effort and increase the reliability of results in further research is to systematize empirical studies in Aspect-Oriented Software Maintainability (AOSM). In this context, metrics are useful as indicators to quantify software quality attributes, such as maintenance. Currently, a high number of metrics have been used throughout the literature to measure software maintainability. However, there is no comprehensive catalogue showing which metrics can be used to measure AOSM.

          • Aim: To identify an AOSM metrics suite to be used by researchers in AOSM research.

          • Method: We performed a systematic mapping study based on Kitchenham and Charters’ guidelines, which derived a research protocol, and used well known digital libraries engines to search the literature.

          • Conclusions: A total of 138 primary studies were selected. They describe 67 aspect-oriented (AO) maintainability metrics. Also, out of the 575 object-oriented maintainability metrics that we analyzed, 469 can be adapted to AO software. This catalogue provides an objective guide to researchers looking for maintainability metrics to be used as indicators in their quantitative and qualitative assessments. We provide information such as authors, metrics description, and studies that used the metric. Researchers can use this information to decide which metrics are more suited for their studies.

  • Title: A Systematic Mapping Study on Software Engineering Testbeds (2010)

    • Main author: Emanoel Barreiros

    • Master's Dissertation: go see it!

    • Protocol: download

    • Published paper (link):

      • Abstract: Even though empirical research has grown in interest, techniques, methodologies and best practices are still in debate. In this context, test beds are effective when one needs to evaluate and compare technologies. The concept is well disseminated in other areas such as Computer Networks, but remains poorly explored in Software Engineering (SE). This paper presents a systematic mapping study on the SE test beds literature. From the initial set of 4239 studies, 13 primary studies were selected and categorized. Based on that, we found that Software Architecture is the most investigated topic, controlled experiment is the most used method to evaluate such test beds, 20 benefits of using test beds in SE have been identified and that test beds comprise very heterogeneous structural elements.