Action Research in Software Engineering: Theory and Applications

Description

This book addresses action research (AR), one of the main research methodologies used for academia-industry research collaborations. It elaborates on how to find the right research activities and how to distinguish them from non-significant ones. Further, it details how to glean lessons from the research results, no matter whether they are positive or negative. Lastly, it shows how companies can evolve and build talents while expanding their product portfolio. The book’s structure is based on that of AR projects; it sequentially covers and discusses each phase of the project. Each chapter shares new insights into AR and provides the reader with a better understanding of how to apply it. In addition, each chapter includes a number of practical use cases or examples. Taken together, the chapters cover the entire software lifecycle: from problem diagnosis to project (or action) planning and execution, to documenting and disseminating results, including validity assessments for AR studies. The goal of this book is to help everyone interested in industry-academia collaborations to conduct joint research. It is for students of software engineering who need to learn about how to set up an evaluation, how to run a project, and how to document the results. It is for all academics who aren’t afraid to step out of their comfort zone and enter industry. It is for industrial researchers who know that they want to do more than just develop software blindly. And finally, it is for stakeholders who want to learn how to manage industrial research projects and how to set up guidelines for their own role and expectations. Foreword Preface Acknowledgments Contents 1 Introduction 1.1 Introduction 1.2 What Action Research Is 1.3 The Concept of Action 1.4 Short Historical Timeline of Action Research 1.5 Software Engineering and Its Context 1.6 Action Research in Software Engineering 1.7 So, What We Need for Action Research Is… 1.8 Outline of This Book 1.8.1 Chapter 2: Action Research as Research Methodology in Software Engineering 1.8.2 Chapter 3: Diagnosing 1.8.3 Chapter 4: Action Planning 1.8.4 Chapter 5: Action Taking 1.8.5 Chapter 6: Evaluating 1.8.6 Chapter 7: Learning 1.8.7 Chapter 8: Action Research vs. Design ScienceResearch 1.8.8 Chapter 9: Ensuring Sustainability of Knowledge 1.8.9 Chapter 10: Validity Evaluation of Action Research Studies 1.8.10 Chapter 11: Reporting Action Research Studies 1.9 Let's Go! References 2 Action Research as Research Methodology in Software Engineering 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Phases of Action Research Cycles 2.2.1 Diagnosing 2.2.2 Action Planning 2.2.3 Action Taking 2.2.4 Evaluation 2.2.5 Learning 2.3 Action Research Cycles in Software Engineering Organizations 2.4 Actors in Action Research 2.5 Number of Cycles 2.6 Collecting the Data 2.7 Visualizing the Data 2.8 Software Experiment Systems 2.9 An Action Research Project Proposal 2.9.1 Context 2.9.2 Goal 2.9.3 Actors 2.9.4 Intended Outcome 2.9.5 Actions 2.9.6 Data Collection and Measurements 2.9.7 Evaluation 2.9.8 What We Want to Learn 2.9.9 Ethical Considerations 2.10 Managing Action Research Projects 2.11 Summary and Conclusions References 3 Diagnosing 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Role of Theory in Diagnosing 3.3 Interviews 3.3.1 Preparing for Interviews 3.3.2 Documenting Interviews 3.3.3 Appreciative Inquiry 3.4 Observations 3.4.1 Preparing for Observations 3.4.2 Documenting Observations 3.4.3 Participatory Observations 3.5 Focus Group Workshops 3.5.1 Preparing for Focus Group Workshops 3.5.2 Documenting Focus Group Workshops 3.6 Collecting Quantitative Data 3.7 What Each Role Does in This Phase 3.8 Example of Results from the Diagnosis Phase 3.9 Formulating Research Questions 3.10 Diagnosing Phase in Second, Third, and the SubsequentCycles 3.11 Software Experiment Systems and Diagnosing 3.12 Summary References 4 Action Planning 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Access to Competence 4.3 Access to Infrastructure 4.4 Planning of Actions, Activities, and Participants 4.5 Planning of Milestones 4.6 Planning of Deliverables 4.7 Planning of Status/Planning Meetings 4.7.1 Planning of Presentations to the Stakeholders 4.8 Planning of Writing Up the Results 4.9 Planning in the Second and Subsequent Cycles 4.10 Roles in Action Planning and the Process of Creating the Plan 4.11 Example of an Action Plan 4.12 Action Planning in Experiment Systems 4.13 Summary References 5 Action Taking 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Actions in Action Research 5.3 Principles of Action Taking: Similarity to Experiment Trials 5.4 Before Taking the Action 5.4.1 Preparing the Evaluation Framework 5.4.2 Preparing the Access to the Infrastructure 5.5 Taking the Action 5.5.1 Individual Actions 5.5.2 Actions Involving Others, Like Teams of Organizations 5.5.3 Actions Involving Customers 5.5.4 Knowing When to Pivot 5.6 Collecting the Data 5.7 Using Experiment Systems to Collect the Data: A Special Case of Action Taking 5.8 Summary References 6 Evaluation 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Cleaning and Preparing the Data 6.3 Data Visualization 6.4 Descriptive Statistics 6.5 Basics of Inferential Statistics 6.6 Machine Learning Methods 6.6.1 Clustering 6.6.1.1 Example of Using Clustering to Find the Complexity of Software Modules 6.6.2 Classification 6.6.2.1 Example of Classifying Defects Using Decision Trees in Weka 6.7 Analysis of Qualitative Data 6.7.1 Becoming Familiar with the Data 6.7.2 Generating Initial Codes 6.7.3 Searching for Themes 6.7.4 Reviewing Themes 6.7.5 Defining and Naming Themes 6.8 Continuous Data Analysis 6.9 Evaluation in the Second and Subsequent ActionResearch Cycles 6.10 Evaluation in Software Experiment Systems 6.11 Summary References 7 Specifying Learning 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Specifying Learning for Companies and Teams 7.2.1 Active Learning 7.2.2 Template for Specifying Learning 7.3 Contributing to Theory Building 7.3.1 Examples of Types of Contributions 7.4 Specifying Learning from Experiment Systems 7.5 Summary References 8 Action Research vs. Design Research 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Design Research 8.2.1 Awareness of the Problem or Problem Investigation 8.2.2 Treatment or Artifact Design 8.2.3 Treatment or Artifact Implementation 8.2.4 Treatment or Artifact Evaluation 8.3 Similarities and Differences 8.3.1 When to Choose Which Methodology 8.4 Summary References 9 Ensuring Sustainability of Knowledge 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Researcher's Perspective on the Sustainability of Knowledge 9.3 Practitioner's Perspective on the Sustainability of Knowledge 9.4 Diagnosing 9.5 Action Planning 9.6 Action Taking 9.7 Evaluating 9.8 Specifying Learning 9.9 Summary References 10 Validity Evaluation 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Construct Validity 10.3 Internal Validity 10.4 Conclusion Validity 10.5 External Validity 10.6 Summary References 11 Reporting Action Research Studies 11.1 Introduction 11.2 Basics of Reporting Action Research Studies 11.3 Working with Results That Are Sensitive to Our Industrial Partners 11.4 Reporting Studies Focused on Results 11.5 Reporting Studies Focused on Actions 11.6 Summary References 12 Conclusions 12.1 Experiences from Working According to Action Research 12.2 Where Action Research Fits Best 12.3 Combining Action Research with Other Methodologies 12.4 Where to Go Next: Action Research with MultipleCompanies 12.5 Final Remarks References