Empirical software engineering: From discipline to interdiscipline

• Published in: The Journal of systems and software 2019-02, Vol.148, p.170-179
• Main Authors: Méndez Fernández, Daniel, Passoth, Jan-Hendrik
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Empirical software engineering; Interdisciplinary research; Science & technology studies; Symmetrical collaboration
• ISSN: 0164-1212; 1873-1228
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jss.2018.11.019

•Software engineering is characterised by social, cultural and human-centric issues.•Theories involving social issues cannot rely on a single paradigmatic framework.•Empirical software engineering is an evolving interdiscipline.•Symmetrical interdisciplinary research collaborations are pragmatic ways to move forward.•Five rules of thumb and a pragmatic lifecycle of interdisciplinarity are introduced. Empirical software engineering has received much attention in recent years and coined the shift from a more design-science-driven engineering discipline to an insight-oriented, and theory-centric one. Yet, we still face many challenges, among which some increase the need for interdisciplinary research. This is especially true for the investigation of social, cultural and human-centric aspects of software engineering. Although we can already observe an increased recognition of the need for more interdisciplinary research in (empirical) software engineering, such research configurations come with challenges barely discussed from a scientific point of view. In this position paper, we critically reflect upon the epistemological setting of empirical software engineering and elaborate its configuration as an Interdiscipline. In particular, we (1) elaborate a pragmatic view on empirical research for software engineering reflecting a cyclic process for knowledge creation, (2) motivate a path towards symmetrical interdisciplinary research, and (3) adopt five rules of thumb from other interdisciplinary collaborations in our field before concluding with new emerging challenges. This supports to elevate empirical software engineering from a developing discipline moving towards a paradigmatic stage of normal science to one that configures interdisciplinary teams and research methods symmetrically.