Comparing Inspection Methods using Controlled Experiments

Abstract

Objective: In this paper we present an empirical study that was aimed at comparing three software inspection methods, in terms of needed time, precision, and recall values. The main objective of this study is to provide software engineers with some insight into choosing the inspection method to adopt.

Method: We conducted a controlled experiment and a replication. These experiments involved 48 Master students in Computer Science at the University of Salerno. In the experiments, 6 academic researchers were also involved. The students had to discover defects within a software artefact using inspection methods that differ in terms of discipline and flexibility. In particular, we selected a disciplined but not flexible method (the Fagan’s process), a disciplined and flexible method (a virtual inspection), and a flexible but not disciplined method (the pair inspection).

Results: We observed a significant difference in favour of the Pair Inspection method for the time spent to perform the tasks. The data analysis also revealed a significant difference in favour of the Fagan’s inspection process for precision. Finally, the effect of the inspection method on the recall is not significant.

Conclusions: The empirical investigation showed that the discipline and flexibility of an inspection method affect both the time needed to identify defects and the precision of the inspection results. In particular, more flexible methods require less time to inspect a software artefact, while more disciplined methods enable the identification of a lower number of false defects.

Contributors

Andrea De Lucia

Fausto Fasano

Giuseppe Scanniello

Genoveffa Tortora

Conference

Publication date: June 2008

Publication date (Print): June 2008

Pages: 1-10

Affiliations

[1 ]Dipartimento di Matematica e Informatica, University of Salerno

Via Ponte Don Melillo, Fisciano (SA), ITALY

[2 ]Dipartimento di Matematica e Informatica, University of Basilicata

Viale Dell’Ateneo, Macchia Romana, Potenza, ITALY

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/EASE2008.4

Copyright statement: © Andrea De Lucia et al. Published by BCS Learning and Development Ltd. 12th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering (EASE)

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: 12th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering (EASE)

Conference acronym: EASE

Conference number: 12

Conference location: University of Bari, Italy

Conference date: 26 - 27 June 2008

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering (EASE)

Product

Product Information: 1477-9358BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/EASE2008.4

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

Categories

Series title: Electronic Workshops in Computing