An Expert Judgment in Source Code Quality Research Domain—A Comparative Study between Professionals and Students

Autor: Tina Beranič, Luka Pavlič, Marjan Hericko
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Empirical data
Source code
Computer science
media_common.quotation_subject
source code quality
02 engineering and technology
lcsh:Technology
Domain (software engineering)
performing experiments
lcsh:Chemistry
student participants
Quality research
0502 economics and business
0202 electrical engineering
electronic engineering
information engineering

Mathematics education
General Materials Science
Quality (business)
Controlled experiment
Instrumentation
lcsh:QH301-705.5
comparative study
media_common
Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes
lcsh:T
Process Chemistry and Technology
05 social sciences
General Engineering
Experimental data
020207 software engineering
lcsh:QC1-999
Computer Science Applications
lcsh:Biology (General)
lcsh:QD1-999
Order (business)
lcsh:TA1-2040
lcsh:Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
050203 business & management
lcsh:Physics
expert judgment
Zdroj: Applied Sciences, Vol 10, Iss 7088, p 7088 (2020)
Applied Sciences
Volume 10
Issue 20
ISSN: 2076-3417
Popis: In scientific research, evidence is often based on empirical data. Scholars tend to rely on students as participants in experiments in order to validate their thesis. They are an obvious choice when it comes to scientific research: They are usually willing to participate and are often themselves pursuing an education in the experiment&rsquo
s domain. The software engineering domain is no exception. However, readers, authors, and reviewers do sometimes question the validity of experimental data that is gathered in controlled experiments from students. This is why we will address this difficult-to-answer question: Are students a proper substitute for experienced professional engineers while performing experiments in a typical software engineering experiment. As we demonstrate in this paper, it is not a &ldquo
yes or no&rdquo
answer. In some aspects, students were not outperformed by professionals, but in others, students would not only give different answers compared to professionals, but their answers would also diverge. In this paper we will show and analyze the results of a controlled experiment in the source code quality domain in terms of comparing student and professional responses. We will show that authors have to be careful when employing students in experiments, especially when complex and advanced domains are addressed. However, they may be a proper substitution in cases, where non-advanced aspects are required.
Databáze: OpenAIRE