Employing the evidence-based paradigm for technology-related decision making
DAVID E. BUDGEN, Barbara Ann Kitchenham, Pearl Brereton, Mark Turner, Stuart Charters, Stephen Linkman · Evidence & Policy · 2008
We report our experiences with adapting the systematic review procedures to help consolidate software engineering knowledge, seen as a step towards being able to employ evidence-based practices to assist with decision making in IT. We describe the different studies performed, and illustrate our procedures through a fuller description of one of our reviews. Our work has demonstrated the value of a study protocol and identified a number of problems. We conclude that it is practical to employ systematic literature reviews in software engineering, but that some cultural changes are required, particularly for reporting of empirical studies.