Empirical Evaluation in Software Engineering Essay

Empirical Evaluation in Software Engineering - Essay Example The systems developed are inherently complex by nature not to mention that they are constantly changing and this has in a large part required empirical evaluations to be carried out especially with regards to the large systems so as to incorporate continuity. Question 2 What factors might make it difficult to conduct an empirical evaluation of the scenario? Explain five factors and relate each of them to the scenario. There are several factors that might make it difficult to conduct an empirical evaluation in this scenario. They include: i. The researcher’s inexperience. The complex nature of carrying out such tasks requires one to have experience in this field. In this scenario, the person concerned has not even studied this subject and this coul prove to be a mjor stumbling block. ii. Inadequate resources. In order to carry out an empirical evaluation, large amount of resources are required. In our scenario, it might not be possible to acquire adequate funding to carry out s uch a project and therefore transforming theory into reality via empirical evaluation might not be possible. iii. Cumbersome. ... v. Inadequate information.Another difficulty might come about when seeking further information with regards to the two methods. There is very little information on the matter as there has been little or no reaserch done cocerning this. Question 3 Using the Fenton and Pfleeger model, why is it hard to show that an lntegrated Development Environment (such as those stated in the scenario) leads to improvements in the software project, or in the quality of the software produced. The end product in software production is greatly dependent on two factors; the experience of the developers and the input applied to the development process. A high quality software at the end of the day should do what it was intended for but in a simpler manner and for this to come to fruittion, it depends largely on the design principles and the developer. The Integrated Development Environment lays more emphasis on the ease of use, manageability and user interfaces. This makes it more difficult to evaluate th e importance of determining the quality of the controls, resources and input since they are determined by the developers. Further, in order to determine the output, provision of empirical evidence is key so as to predict it. Coming back to our scenario, this is not practical because of the complexities and numerous functionalities of the environments (Lewis & Veerapillai 2005) Question 4 Critically discuss the benefits and limitations of the case study and the survey study to answer'- the friend's question. There are many benefits that can be realised through conducting a case study method in the evaluation process. Some of these benefits may include; quantifying of the various benefits and functionalities that may be realised in a single