Casos de estudio para ingenieria de software

Case Studies for Software Engineers
Dewayne E. Perry The University of Texas at Austin perry@ece.uexas.edu Susan Elliott Sim University of California, Irvine ses@ics.uci.edu Steve Easterbrook University of Toronto sme@cs.toronto.edu

Abstract
The topic of this full-day tutorial was the correct use and interpretation of case studies as an empirical research method. Using an equal blend oflecture and discussion, it gave attendees a foundation for conducting, reviewing, and reading case studies. There were lessons for software engineers as researchers who conduct and report case studies, reviewers who evaluate papers, and practitioners who are attempting to apply results from papers. The main resource for the course was the book Case Study Research: Design and Methods by Robert K. Yin.This text was supplemented with positive and negative examples from the literature.

1. Introduction
Case studies are a powerful and flexible empirical method. They are used primarily for exploratory investigations, both prospectively and retrospectively, that attempt to understand and explain phenomenon or construct a theory. They are generally observational or descriptive in nature, thoughthey can be relational as well. They can also be used in the validation of research results. Due to this dexterity, they have become popular in software engineering and are frequently used in papers to understand, to explain or to demonstrate the capabilities of a new technique, method, tool, process, technology or organizational structure. Unfortunately, they are usually not used to their fullpotential, and often not used correctly. The aim of this full-day tutorial was to teach software engineering researchers and professionals how to effectively design, conduct, evaluate and read case studies.

2. Characteristics of Case Studies
A case study is an empirical method. By this we mean a defined, scientific, method for posing research questions, collecting data, analyzing the data, andpresenting the results. Each of these steps is planned from the outset of the study and do not come about through serendipity. Case studies are well-suited to “how” and “why” questions in settings where the researcher does not have control over variables and there is a focus on contemporary events.

Unfortunately, there is a great deal of confusion regarding the term “case study” within softwareengineering. Some of these misuses of the term are understandable because it has different meanings in different settings or disciplines. For the remainder of this Section, we will clarify what case studies are not. A case study is not an exemplar or case history. The term case study is frequently used in medicine and law. Patients or clients are referred to as “cases,” so a study of interestinginstances of these are sometimes called case studies [1]. However, empirical studies conducted using a case study method are very different from the interesting examples that practitioner-researchers encounter. In addition, a report on something interesting that was attempted by researchers on a toy problem is not a case study. A case study is not an experience report. The latter is a retrospectivereport on an experience that was particularly illuminating and best examples of these include lessons learned. However, even exploratory case studies need to start out with a research question and systematically collect and analyze data to answer the initial question. This confusion is very common as the Experience Reports track of ICSE 2003 had a session on Case Studies. A case study is not aquasi-experimental design with n=1. While some quasi-experimental studies are conducted in the field, they still retain control over some independent variables, so that time series designs, nonequivalent before-after designs, and ex post facto designs can be brought to bear on the research question [2]. Finally, a case study is equivalent in scope to a single experiment, and both need a series of...