Lessons from a Cross-domain Investigation of Empirical Practices

Context: We are seeking the best ways to employ evidence-based practices in software engineering research and practice. Objectives: To help assess our guidelines for conducting systematic literature reviews we have investigated how other academic disciplines use evidence-based practices. Method: This involved performing two studies, one using a questionnaire with a set of experts, and a second using semi-structured interviews. Results: We have identified how disciplines with similar empirical constraints to software engineering place weight upon different forms of empirical data. Conclusions: We describe both the resulting changes to our systematic literature review guidelines and some issues this raises for empirical software engineering.