Abstract:In recent years, the use and investigations about Grey Literature (GL) increased, in particular, in Software Engineering (SE) research. However, its understanding is still scarce and sometimes controversial, such as interpreting GL types and assessing their credibility. This study aimed to understand the credibility aspects that SE researchers consider in assessing GL and its types. To achieve this goal, we surveyed 53 SE researchers (who answered that they have used GL in our previous investigation), receivin… Show more
“…Introduced by [11], grey information serves as a classi cation encompassing various forms of 'grey'; including data, literature, and information. In this context, 'grey data' pertains to user-generated web content like tweets or blogs, 'grey literature' encompasses policy documents, standards, and regulations, while 'grey information' involves informal data such as meeting notes or emails [12,13]. This is not the rst instance of creating ways to systematically gather grey literature for use in a SLR.…”
Systematically gathering grey literature for use in a systematic literature review (SLR) is a challenging task, given the decentralised nature of online resources. Researchers, particularly those in the social sciences, often find themselves navigating government or non-government organisation websites, manually scouring repositories for documents relevant to their SLRs. This important stage is expensive in terms of time and resources required and, in many instances, difficult to repeat. This article introduces an innovative methodology to address these challenges, providing social science researchers with a systematic approach to gather grey literature for inclusion in SLRs. Utilising the computer programming language Python, this articles leverages Google’s API to create a programmable search engine, facilitating a systematic search for grey literature intended for inclusion in a SLR. A case study is presented to demonstrate the efficiency of this method in locating PDF documents, within which two examples are provided. In the first example, documents from Australian government websites ending in “gov.au” related to the topic of (“energy infrastructure” AND resilience) are sought. Secondly, “un.org” is added to illustrate how multiple websites can be searched. Highlighting the effectiveness of this approach, the study successfully locates 100 documents in just 7.5 seconds, automatically saving them into an Excel CSV file for further analysis. To the authors knowledge, this method represents an original approach in the systematic gathering of grey literature for SLRs and highlights the contribution of generative artificial intelligence systems such as ChatGPT 3.5 in assisting to script the necessary code for new SLR tools.
“…Introduced by [11], grey information serves as a classi cation encompassing various forms of 'grey'; including data, literature, and information. In this context, 'grey data' pertains to user-generated web content like tweets or blogs, 'grey literature' encompasses policy documents, standards, and regulations, while 'grey information' involves informal data such as meeting notes or emails [12,13]. This is not the rst instance of creating ways to systematically gather grey literature for use in a SLR.…”
Systematically gathering grey literature for use in a systematic literature review (SLR) is a challenging task, given the decentralised nature of online resources. Researchers, particularly those in the social sciences, often find themselves navigating government or non-government organisation websites, manually scouring repositories for documents relevant to their SLRs. This important stage is expensive in terms of time and resources required and, in many instances, difficult to repeat. This article introduces an innovative methodology to address these challenges, providing social science researchers with a systematic approach to gather grey literature for inclusion in SLRs. Utilising the computer programming language Python, this articles leverages Google’s API to create a programmable search engine, facilitating a systematic search for grey literature intended for inclusion in a SLR. A case study is presented to demonstrate the efficiency of this method in locating PDF documents, within which two examples are provided. In the first example, documents from Australian government websites ending in “gov.au” related to the topic of (“energy infrastructure” AND resilience) are sought. Secondly, “un.org” is added to illustrate how multiple websites can be searched. Highlighting the effectiveness of this approach, the study successfully locates 100 documents in just 7.5 seconds, automatically saving them into an Excel CSV file for further analysis. To the authors knowledge, this method represents an original approach in the systematic gathering of grey literature for SLRs and highlights the contribution of generative artificial intelligence systems such as ChatGPT 3.5 in assisting to script the necessary code for new SLR tools.
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