2017/02/19 by Marco Torchiano, Daniel Méndez Fernández, Torchiano, Marco +6
Computer Science · Decision Sciences · #Data Quality and Management #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Software Engineering (cs.SE) #Software Engineering Research #Software Reliability and Analysis Research #cs.SE
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1702.05744
Final CR version
openalex publication_date 2017/02/19 · arxiv created 2017/02/24 · arxiv updated 2017/02/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Context: Surveys constitute an valuable tool to capture a large-scale snapshot of the state of the practice. Apparently trivial to adopt, surveys hide, however, several pitfalls that might hinder rendering the result valid and, thus, useful. Goal: We aim at providing an overview of main pitfalls in software engineering surveys and report on practical ways to deal with them. Method: We build on the experiences we collected in conducting many studies and distill the main lessons learnt. Results: The eight lessons learnt we report cover different aspects of the survey process ranging from the design of initial research objectives to the design of a questionnaire. Conclusions: Our hope is that by sharing our lessons learnt, combined with a disciplined application of the general survey theory, we contribute to improving the quality of the research results achievable by employing software engineering surveys.