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Seminar: Empirical Software Engineering

Seminar Zoom

The first seminar meeting will be on Thursday, 15.04.21 at 10:00 - 11:30. We will use the following Zoom meeting: https://uni-koeln.zoom.us/j/97633435685?pwd=MWlwWWNjMlAyQ1VOLzZzcjJvYjVpZz09
 

Course Content

The development of software can be seen as a chain of design decisions. In modern software development, these decisions are increasingly made based on data (e.g., data about the usage). In addition, software itself is increasingly controlled by algorithms that are trained by data (e.g., using machine learning). Therefore, a sound understanding of empirical research methods and data analysis is becoming increasingly important for software developers. Empirical Software Engineering deals with the collection and analysis of data about software engineering artifacts in order to derive knowledge that can be used to improve the software or the software development process. This module teaches the foundation of Empirical Software Engineering. The topics include:

  • What is empirical research and what forms of empirical studies exist in software engineering (e.g. interviews, surveys, case studies, experiments)?
  • The structure of empirical studies
  • Data collection
  • Data analysis (theory building, validation of hypotheses)
  • Validity of empirical results

The basics are taught in an open education manner, consisting of lectures, labs (programming examples) and self study phases. In an accompanying project, students design, conduct, and evaluate their own empirical study on a self-selected or provided research questions related to software engineering.

Time Schedule

The seminar is held every Thursday from 10:00 - 11:30. The addtional material and excercises will be updated throughout the semester.

Date Time Topic Addtional Material/Exercises
08.04.2021 10:00 - 11:30 Information Event  
15.04.2021 10:00 - 11:30 Lecture 1: Introduction to Empirical Software Engineering  
22.04.2021 10:00 - 11:30 Lecture 2: Theories in Software Engineering and How to Create Knowledge  
29.04.2021 10:00 - 11:30 Lecture 3: Research Strategies and Measurements  
06.05.2021 10:00 - 11:30 Lecture 4: Controlled Experiments and Hypothesis Testing  
13.05.2021 Self Study Christi Himmelfahrt, Lecture 5 (recorded): Statistical Tests and How to Select the Right One  
20.05.2021 10:00 - 11:30 Study Marketplace  
27.05.2021   Pfingsten  
03.06.2021   Fronleichnam  
10.06.2021 10:00 - 11:30 Lecture 6: Recap - Descriptive Statistics and Hypothesis Test   
17.06.2021 10:00 - 11:30 Lab 1: Descriptive statistics, regression and hypothesis testing  
24.06.2021 10:00 - 11:30 Intermediate Presentations  
01.07.2021 10:00 - 11:30 Lab 2: ANOVA  
08.07.2021 10:00 - 11:30 Lab 3: How to write an Empirical Paper  
15.07.2021 10:00 - 11:30 Open Session: Paper Discussions  
22.07.2021 10:00 - 11:30 Final Presentation  
29.07.2021 23:59:59 Paper Submission Deadline  

Team

  • Prof. Dr. Andreas Vogelsang
  • Patrick Ebel

Anmeldung und Größenbeschränkung

Due to the close supervision the seminar is currently limited to 15 participants.

Workload

The seminar is designed for 2 SWS and is worth 6 ECTS points.