There is no random sampling in software engineering research

Representative sampling is considered crucial for predominately quantitative, positivist research. Researchers typically argue that a sample is representative when items are selected randomly from a population. However, random sampling is rare in empirical software engineering research because there...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inProceedings of the 40th International Conference on Software Engineering: Companion Proceeedings pp. 344 - 345
Main Authors Amir, Bilal, Ralph, Paul
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, NY, USA ACM 27.05.2018
SeriesACM Conferences
Subjects
General and reference > Cross-computing tools and techniques > Empirical studies
General and reference > Document types > Reference works
General and reference > Document types > Surveys and overviews
purposive sampling
random sampling
research methodology
sampling
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ISBN145035663X
9781450356633
DOI10.1145/3183440.3195001

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Summary:Representative sampling is considered crucial for predominately quantitative, positivist research. Researchers typically argue that a sample is representative when items are selected randomly from a population. However, random sampling is rare in empirical software engineering research because there are no credible sampling frames (population lists) for the units of analysis software engineering researchers study (e.g. software projects, code libraries, developers, projects). This means that most software engineering research does not support statistical generalization, but rejecting any particular study for lack of random sampling is capricious.
ISBN:145035663X
9781450356633
DOI:10.1145/3183440.3195001