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Thiswork was supported by grant PID2022-137846NB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, and by "ERDF A way of making Europe"

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Grounded Theory in Software Engineering: Challenges and Lessons Learned from the Trenches

Publicado en: 21-26 - 2024-01-01 (), DOI: 10.1145/3643664.3648209

Autores: Rodríguez, P

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Context: Grounded Theory (GT) is a research method that facilitates theory development. Its application in Software Engineering (SE) often raises concerns among researchers. Objectives: This paper aims to highlight challenges in applying GT in SE and provide practical insights to overcome them. Method: I outline the top five challenges I faced while applying GT to develop a theory of value for value-based feature selection. The theory was developed taking a positivist stand. I also reflect on the lessons that I learned along the way. Results: The top five challenges are: 1) defining research questions, 2) keeping away from the related literature, 3) assuring the trustworthiness of "ground" data, 4) specifying the theory with a proper granularity level, and 5) reporting a GT study in a limitedlength research paper. These challenges led to 17 lessons learned. Conclusions: While my experience with GT in SE has been positive, certain aspects of the method need thoughtful consideration, particularly when the research is conducted from a positivist stand. I hope that the experience I share in this paper is valuable for others in the SE community attempting to use GT for their studies.

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