Insights on transferring software engineering scientific knowledge to practice

Abstract

CONTEXT. Bridging the gap between research and practice is an old challenge in the software engineering field. While researchers expect practitioners to use scientific productions, practitioners expect researchers to deal with real problems faced in the software industry. GOAL. To support researchers in identifying and researching relevant practical questions from software engineering practical knowledge repositories. Next, to support researchers in making software engineering scientific knowledge available to practitioners in a way they can find, understand, and appraise it. METHOD. We performed a series of empirical studies to identify the reasons for the gap between research and practice that make it difficult for practitioners to look for and use scientific knowledge. RESULTS. We gathered evidence on practitioners' difficulties when searching, understanding, and appraising software engineering scientific knowledge. Based on the findings, we proposed Hermes – eight heuristics and a computational infrastructure – which is a support for researchers in identifying software engineering practical issues that can be used to conduct practical research in the field. CONCLUSIONS. Along with Hermes, this thesis provides important insights based on evidence that can be used in different works to support bridging the gap between research and practice.Também disponível on-line