Chapter 5. Learning Through Application: The Maturing of the QIP in the SEL
Empirical studies—formal research that uses respected, validated methods for establishing the truth of an assertion—have started to make headway within software engineering. The good news is that these studies have finally become recognized as an important component of the discipline. One sees more and more empirical studies and experiments in the literature to confirm or reject the effectiveness of some method, technique, or tool.
The bad news is that these studies are not yet used for discovery. The experiment is an add-on, tried after the concept is considered complete. The scientific method, however, is classically based on applying a method, technique, or tool and learning from the results how to evolve the concept. This is how theories are tested and evolved over time. In the software engineering discipline, where the theories and models are still in the formative stages and processes are applied by humans as part of a creative process, observing the application or performing exploratory studies should be an important step in the evolution of the discipline.
Get Making Software now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
