2011/01/04 by Laurie McLeod, Stephen G. MacDonell, Bill Doolin
Computer Science · #Case study research #Complement (music) #Empirical research #Qualitative analysis #Qualitative research #Software #Software Engineering Research #Software Engineering Techniques and Practices #Software development #Software development process #Spreadsheets and End-User Computing #cs.SE
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s10664-010-9153-5
published as Empirical Software Engineering 16(4)(2011), pp.430-459 · Journal Paper, 18 pages, 2 figures, 6 tables
openalex publication_date 2011/01/04 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · arxiv created 2021/01/21 · arxiv updated 2021/01/22 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
This paper reports the use of a qualitative methodology for conducting longitudinal case study research on software development. We provide a detailed description and explanation of appropriate methods of qualitative data collection and analysis that can be utilized by other researchers in the software engineering field. Our aim is to illustrate the utility of longitudinal case study research, as a complement to existing methodologies for studying software development, so as to enable the community to develop a fuller and richer understanding of this complex, multi-dimensional phenomenon. We discuss the insights gained and lessons learned from applying a longitudinal qualitative approach to an empirical case study of a software development project in a large multi-national organization. We evaluate the methodology used to emphasize its strengths and to address the criticisms traditionally made of qualitative research.