Case studies in industry: What we have learnt

Daniel Méndez Fernández, Stefan Wagner

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Case study research has become an important research methodology for exploring phenomena in their natural contexts. Case studies have earned a distinct role in the empirical analysis of software engineering phenomena which are difficult to capture in isolation. Such phenomena often appear in the context of methods and development processes for which it is difficult to run large, controlled experiments as they usually have to reduce the scale in several respects and, hence, are detached from the reality of industrial software development. The other side of the medal is that the realistic socio-economic environments where we conduct case studies-with real-life cases and realistic conditions-also pose a plethora of practical challenges to planning and conducting case studies. In this experience report, we discuss such practical challenges and the lessons we learnt in conducting case studies in industry. Our goal is to help especially inexperienced researchers facing their first case studies in industry by increasing their awareness for typical obstacles they might face and practical ways to deal with those obstacles.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings - 4th International Workshop on Conducting Empirical Studies in Industry, CESI 2016
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
Pages25-31
Number of pages7
ISBN (Electronic)9781450341547
DOIs
StatePublished - 14 May 2016
Externally publishedYes
Event4th International Workshop on Conducting Empirical Studies in Industry, CESI 2016 - 38th International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2016 - Austin, United States
Duration: 17 May 2016 → …

Publication series

NameProceedings - International Conference on Software Engineering
Volume17-May-2016
ISSN (Print)0270-5257

Conference

Conference4th International Workshop on Conducting Empirical Studies in Industry, CESI 2016 - 38th International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2016
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityAustin
Period17/05/16 → …

Keywords

  • case study research
  • experience report
  • lessons learnt

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