Empirical practice in software engineering

Experimental software engineering has been defined as the scientific approach to systematically evaluating software technologies by referring to predefined hypotheses using sound empirical methods. The purpose of this chapter is to give an overview of the history, current practice, and future of empirical practice in Software Engineering. In particular, based on what we have learned from 20 years of research in empirical software engineering, we describe the empirical approach we are currently using in terms of a scientific approach to applied research and as a means for systematic evaluation.