ISERN Meeting Tuesday, October 10, 2000 Facilitators: Carolyn B. Seaman Reidar Conradi Qualitative Methods in Software Engineering Research

What are Qualitative Methods? Data in the form of words and pictures, not numbers Data is richer and carries more information, but is harder to analyze than quantitative data Helps deal with the complexity of a phenomenon Can be either objective or subjective Work well in combination with quantitative methods

Overview of Techniques Data Collection Prior Ethnography Participant Observation Interviewing Surveys Document Analysis Data Analysis Coding Constant Comparison Method Cross-case analysis Member checking Auditing

Judging Validity Validity of methods –Triangulation –Documentation –Contradictory evidence Weight of evidence –How much is enough? –Variety as well as quantity of evidence

Advantages Richer, more relevant results Results more explanatory Terminology of results Closer to sources of data Avoid errors in interpretation Subjects are more a part of the research process

Conclusions Empirical software engineering researchers are now addressing more complex research questions Qualitative methods, usually in combination with quantitative methods, can be helpful in handling this complexity Qualitative methods are both flexible and rigorous Qualitative analysis provides richer, more relevant, and more explanatory results