Social theory for software engineering research
Paul Ralph, Mike W. Chiasson, Helen M. Kelley · 2016
Many challenges in software projects are sociological, psychological or managerial in nature. Without knowledge of social science, developers, managers and researchers may misunderstand the social aspects of their projects, leading to ineffective decisions and actions. Yet, social science theories are rarely applied to Software Engineering (SE). Furthermore, understanding a single software project frequently necessitates combining multiple theories---often from several disciplines. This paper therefore aims to illustrate how certain social theories work together in a complementary manner to understand various dynamics of a software development project. To illustrate this, seven theories to understand key dynamics --- Actor Network Theory, Theory of Boundary Objects, Complexity Theory, Theory of Cognitive Biases, Effectuation Theory, Sensemaking-Coevolution-Implementation Theory and Transactive Memory Theory --- are used to explain a longitudinal study of a software development project. This study illustrates the need for integrating more social science into SE research and curriculum.