Software development is a people problem, not a technical problem.? Understand that you are actually researching people and how they work, so do not ignore hundreds of years of social science research techniques.?
On Tue, Sep 13, 2022 at 10:08 AM Steven Gordon <
sgordonphd@...> wrote:
However, if you survey the people you observe, then you have something useful.? If you are not doing observations of how people are actually working, it?does not matter what your other dimensions are because it is divorced from reality,? Most people do not actually know how they work and/or answer?survey questions based on rationalizations.? Involve at least one real social scientist in your research group to avoid wasting your efforts.
Uncontrolled surveys are not just limited - they are deceptive and can easily move your research in a useless direction.
Hi Steve!
I see your point on the limits of surveys; that's why this is just on of the 3 dimensions we are looking at! And I think the survey is probably the weakest evidence due to the reasons you just pointed out... I think it has its value as a complement though.
This may be a nice read:
Survey Guidelines in Software Engineering: An Annotated Review
Pedro
