Cross-factor analysis of software engineering practices versus practitioner demographics: An exploratory study in Turkey

• Published in: The Journal of systems and software 2016-01, Vol.111, p.49-73
• Main Authors: Garousi, Vahid, Coşkunçay, Ahmet, Demirörs, Onur, Yazici, Ali
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Correlation analysis; Cross-factor analysis; Demographics; Discriminant analysis; Practitioner demographics; Software engineering; Software engineering practices; Software industry; Studies
• ISSN: 0164-1212; 1873-1228
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jss.2015.09.013

•More experienced practitioners experience more challenges in SE phases and tasks.•Almost 55% of participants measure software size.•Agile development is used the least by participants in military and defense sector.•Agile is favored by participants in small-sized companies, whereas Waterfall is not.•As company size increases, Spiral life-cycle usage increases, whereas XP decreases. Understanding the types of software engineering practices and techniques used in the industry is important. There is a wide spectrum in terms of the types and maturity of software engineering practices conducted in each software team and company. Furthermore, it is important to understand the cross-factor relationship of software engineering practices and practitioner demographics including their companies and projects, e.g., is it the case that practitioners developing software for sectors such as military would utilize software size measurement approaches more, or use different software development methodologies, compared to practitioners developing software for other sectors?, and what kinds of practices are conducted by practitioners in small versus large companies? Our objective is to get an understanding into the cross-factor correlation of various software engineering practices versus practitioner demographics including their companies and projects (e.g., target industry, size and work experience). Such an understanding will enable us to identify patterns and pinpoint special issues which should be studied and addressed in the context of each specific demographic (e.g., small versus large companies). Thus, we decided to conduct an exploratory study in this area and collected real industrial data in the context of Turkey which has a vibrant software industry. To achieve the above objective, we use the data from a recent Turkish-wide survey of software engineering practices which was systematically designed with 46 questions based on our past experience in the Canadian context and using the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK). 202 practicing software engineers participated in the survey. We raise a set of 12 research questions about the cross-factor correlation of software engineering practices and practitioner demographics, and address them using statistical analysis. The exploratory study results reveal important and interesting findings about cross-factor relationship of software engineering practices and practitioner demographics. Among some of the most int