Skip to main content

Toward a Meta-Ontology for Accurate Ontologies to Specify Domain Specific Experiments in Software Engineering

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
  • 3810 Accesses

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 9459))

Abstract

Background: Experiments have been conducted in many domains of software engineering (SE). Objective: This paper presents a meta-ontology containing the common concepts present in any SE experiment. This meta-ontology aims at simplifying the proposition of accurate domain specific ontologies for the SE experiments. Method: The paper presents results of an exploratory study that proposes a general ontologyS and its specialization for the domain of coding experiments. Besides, we present how this domain specific ontology specifies a real experiment. Results: The ontology for coding experiments was modeled with few elements. Moreover, it focused only on elements specific to the coding activities. Conclusions: Our meta-ontology facilitates the development of a domain specific ontology in SE, however more research is necessary to evaluate our meta-ontology in other domains of SE.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Antony, J.: Design of Experiments for Engineers and Scientists. Elsevier, Oxford (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Basili, V.R., Shull, F., Lanubile, F.: Building knowledge through families of experiments. IEEE Trans. Softw. Eng. 25(4), 456–473 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Borges, A., Ferreira, W., et al.: Support mechanisms to conduct empirical studies in software engineering: a systematic mapping study. In: Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering, p. 22. ACM (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Bourque, P., Fairley, R.E., et al.: Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK (R)): Version 3.0. IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Budgen, D., Kitchenham, B.A., Charters, S.M., Turner, M., Brereton, P., Linkman, S.G.: Presenting software engineering results using structured abstracts: a randomised experiment. Empir. Softw. Eng. 13(4), 435–468 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Cartaxo, B., Costa, I., Abrantes, D., Santos, A., Soares, S., Garcia, V.: Eseml: empirical software engineering modeling language. In: Proceedings of the 2012 Workshop on Domain-Specific Modeling, pp. 55–60. ACM (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Carver, J.C., Juristo, N., Baldassarre, M.T., Vegas, S.: Replications of software engineering experiments. Empir. Softw. Eng. 19(2), 267–276 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Freire, M., Accioly, P., Sizílio, G., Campos Neto, E., Kulesza, U., Aranha, E., Borba, P.: A model-driven approach to specifying and monitoring controlled experiments in software engineering. In: Heidrich, J., Oivo, M., Jedlitschka, A., Baldassarre, M.T. (eds.) PROFES 2013. LNCS, vol. 7983, pp. 65–79. Springer, Heidelberg (2013)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  9. Freire, M., Alencar, D., Campos, E., Medeiros, T., Kulesza, U., Aranha, E., Soares, S.: Automated support for controlled experiments in software engineering: a systematic review. In: SEKE, Boston/USA (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Garcia, R., Hhn, E., Barbosa, E., Maldonado, J.: An ontology for controlled experiments on software engineering. In: SEKE, Boston/USA (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Jedlitschka, A., Ciolkowski, M., Pfahl, D.: Reporting experiments in software engineering. In: Shull, F., Singer, J., Sjøoberg, D.I.K. (eds.) Guide to Advanced Empirical Software Engineering. Springer, London (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Johansen, S.A., San Agustin, J., Skovsgaard, H., Hansen, J.P., Tall, M.: Low cost vs. high-end eye tracking for usability testing. In: CHI 2011 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1177–1182. ACM (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Juristo, N., Moreno, A.M.: Basics of Software Engineering Experimentation. Springer, Heidelberg (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Kitchenham, B., Pfleeger, S.L., et al.: Preliminary guidelines for empirical research in software engineering. IEEE Trans. Softw. Eng. 28(8), 721–734 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. McGuinness, D.L., Van Harmelen, F., et al.: Owl web ontology language overview. W3C Recommendation 10(10), 2004 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Meltzoff, J.: Critical thinking about research: Psychology and related fields. American psychological association (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Neto, J.P., Scatalon, L.P.: Exptool: a tool to conduct, package and replicate controlled experiments in software engineering. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Software Engineering Research and Practice (SERP), p. 1 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Peace, G.S.: Taguchi Methods: A Hands-on Approach. Addison Wesley Publishing Company, Reading (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Eustáquio Rangel de Queiroz, J., de Sousa Ferreira, D.: A multidimensional approach for the evaluation of mobile application user interfaces. In: Jacko, J.A. (ed.) HCI International 2009, Part I. LNCS, vol. 5610, pp. 242–251. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Siegmund, J., Schumann, J.: Confounding parameters on program comprehension: a literature survey. Empirical Software Engineering pp. 1–34 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Siy, H., Wu, Y.: An ontology to support empirical studies in software engineering. In: International Conference on Computing, Engineering and Information, ICC 2009, pp. 12–15 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Sjøberg, D.I., Anda, B., Arisholm, E., Others: conducting realistic experiments in software engineering. In: 2002 International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering, 2002, Proceedings, pp. 17–26. IEEE (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Travassos, G.H., dos Santos, P.S.M., Neto, P., Biolchini, J.: An environment to support large scale experimentation in software engineering. In: 13th IEEE International Conference on Engineering of Complex Computer Systems, ICECCS 2008, pp. 193–202. IEEE (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Vokáč, M., Tichy, W., Sjøberg, D.I., Arisholm, E., Aldrin, M.: A controlled experiment comparing the maintainability of programs designed with and without design patternsa replication in a real programming environment. Empir. Softw. Eng. 9(3), 149–195 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Wohlin, C., Runeson, P., Höst, M., Ohlsson, M.C., Regnell, B., Wesslén, A.: Experimentation in Software Engineering. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Waldemar Ferreira .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this paper

Cite this paper

Ferreira, W., Baldassarre, M.T., Soares, S., Visaggio, G. (2015). Toward a Meta-Ontology for Accurate Ontologies to Specify Domain Specific Experiments in Software Engineering. In: Abrahamsson, P., Corral, L., Oivo, M., Russo, B. (eds) Product-Focused Software Process Improvement. PROFES 2015. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9459. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26844-6_33

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26844-6_33

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-26843-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-26844-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics