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Return to the investigation page Initial Questions
ObjectiveTo discover if the use of Software Engineering methods is of benefit to computer science research, and if the benefit is worth more then the overhead involved in their use. Q: Which Software Engineering methodsQ: Which CS research Q: How much is the benefit worth ? Q: How much did the over head cost ? Aside: The question of when (in terms of which types of projects, at what stage in the projects life, and for how long) they are of benefit may also be important. Design:Retrospective review using:Interview (email and in person)Survey Case Study(s) Setting:University computer science departments (and related departments ie where
software is created to aid or prove research) Main outcomes measured:Size of research groups / software development teamsMethods of Software Engineering used Experience with Software Engineering methods used Life of the project in years Life of the project in people turnover Size / Complexity of project (may need to come back to relevant people on this as it could be time consuming) Papers published (to come out of research) Number of references to papers (that came out of research) Number of complete re-writes of software Number of modification / addition projects to the main research (eg summer vacation, honors, post grad projects) Time spent in planning the project (cf other projects with out SE) Time spent on development Time spent in meetings Number of students who continued on with research related to the project after finishing their initial involvement (eg honors students who went on to do further research) Personal satisfaction with project (more / same / less then projects that didn't use SE OR on a scale of 1 to 10 , or possibly both) Personal frustration with project (as above) Do people that use SE feel it helps them ? Do people who don't use SE feel they need it (or something else) to assist them? How many have some past experience of SE ? (was it a positive or negative experience ? describe briefly why it was pos or neg) How many have tried it but no longer use any SE ? (Can be calculated from above.) How many use less then they have in the past ? (why ?) If they stopped using some methods, which ones, and why ? Disclaimer |
