In this chapter we will discuss some of the pragmatic considerations that we believe university researchers and companies should consider when establishing collaborative software engineering research projects; in particular, those involving empirical studies of software engineers. The chapter is illustrated using as a case study a research collaboration in which the authors are involved. We enumerate the costs, benefits, risks and risk-reducing factors that can have an impact on all the parties involved in the collaboration (the company, the faculty members and the graduate student researchers). Understanding this information is needed to help justify the research in the first place, and to manage it effectively. We then discuss many of the activities that will be needed to plan and manage the project, including such issues as attracting students, handling intellectual property, obtaining ethical approval and interacting with participants. The main objective of the chapter is to provoke some thoughts in the minds of those planning empirical research projects in software engineering.
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Lethbridge, T.C., Lyon, S., Perry, P. (2008). The Management of University–Industry Collaborations Involving Empirical Studies of Software Enginee. In: Shull, F., Singer, J., Sjøberg, D.I.K. (eds) Guide to Advanced Empirical Software Engineering. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84800-044-5_10
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