An operational process for goal-driven definition of measures

Abstract

Abstract-We propose an approach (GQM/MEDEA) for defining measures of product attributes in software engineering. The approach is driven by the experimental goals of measurement, expressed via the GQM paradigm, and a set of empirical hypotheses. To make the empirical hypotheses quantitatively verifiable, GQM/MEDEA supports the definition of theoretically valid measures for the attributes of interest based on their expected mathematical properties. The empirical hypotheses are subject to experimental verification. This approach integrates several research contributions from the literature into a consistent, practical, and rigorous approach.

Evaluating a collaborative IT based research and development project

“…These approaches (Juristo N 1997;Juristo N and Morant J 1998;Basili R V et al 1994;Briand L et al 2002) appear very close to the CIM evaluation methodology presented in this paper, excepting that the CIM approach criteria and questions are driven by user requirements, which are investigated by specific stakeholders in order to address relevant questions using both qualitative and quantitative metrics. The prime characteristics of the CIM approach are its generic application in various software engineering areas of collaborative projects, and its characteristic ability to adapt to different evaluation methods/techniques, including questionnaire, code inspection, unit testing, model checking, walkthrough, white and black box testing (Sommerville I 2006).…”

“…Among others, the Goal Question Metric (GQM) paradigm (Basili R V et al 1994) provides a general approach to specify a measurement system focusing on goals, viewpoints and specific questions for the quantitative measurement of a software product. Similarly, the GQM/MEtric DEfinition Approach (GQM/MEDEA) (Briand L et al 2002) is driven by the GQM based explicit measurement goals to be addressed, and the set of explicit empirical hypotheses that need to be validated.…”

Are suggestions from coupled file changes useful for perfective maintenance tasks?

“…We use the GQM approach (Basili, Caldiera & Rombach, 1994) and its MEDEA extension (Briand, Morasca & Basili, 2002) to define the study goal. The goal of our study is to analyze the usefulness of coupled file change suggestions.…”

Customizing GQM Models for Software Project Monitoring

“…Briand, Morasca and Basili [6] extend the basic GQM approach to include a measure definition process, providing "a practical guideline to design and reuse technically sound and useful measures." (p.1107).…”

“…To define measurement goals, we used a goal template [6], [12] as a specification of the problem we want to solve. The template is described as follows:…”