Software Engineering Data Collection

Software engineering is an intensely people-oriented activity, yet little
is known about how software engineers perform their work. In order to improve
software engineering tools and practice, it is therefore essential to conduct field
studies, i.e., to study real practitioners as they solve real problems. To aid this goal,
we describe a series of data collection techniques for such studies, organized around
a taxonomy based on the degree to which interaction with software engineers is
necessary. For each technique, we provide examples from the literature, an analysis
of some of its advantages and disadvantages, and a discussion of special reporting
requirements. We also talk briefly about recording options and data analysis.

Software engineering involves real people working in real environments. People
create software, people maintain software, people evolve software. Accordingly
to understand software engineering, one should study software engineers as they
work – typically by doing field studies. In this chapter, we introduce a set of data
collection techniques suitable for performing such studies that can be used individually
or in combination to understand different aspects of real world environments.
These data collection techniques can be used with a wide variety of
methods under a wide variety of theoretical and philosophical traditions