Research in software engineering: an analysis of the literature

In this paper, we examine the state of software engineering (SE) research from the point of view of the following research questions: 1. What topics do SE researchers address? 2. What research approaches do SE researchers use? 3. What research methods do SE researchers use? 4. On what reference disciplines does SE research depend? 5. At what levels of analysis do SE researchers conduct research? To answer those questions, we examined 369 papers in six leading research journals in the SE field, answering those research questions for each paper. From that examination, we conclude that SE research is diverse regarding topic, narrow regarding research approach and method, inwardly-focused regarding reference discipline, and technically focused (as opposed to behaviorally focused) regarding level of analysis. We pass no judgment on the SE field as a result of these findings. Instead, we present them as groundwork for future SE research efforts. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.