Software Review, Inputs, Process, and Performance

Past research suggests that explicit inputs, such as reading techniques documents, are the critical factors influencing software review performance. However, there is no published evidence investigating the important relationship between explicit inputs and performance in practice. As a result, the aim of this paper is to examine the effect of explicit inputs on software review performance in practice. A total of 205 developers voluntarily participated in a questionnaire survey in Australia in 2003. The main findings include: (1) previously reviewed software documents are the key drivers to the performance, (2) reading technique documents, prescription documents and reports has no value to software review performance.

Software cybernetics explores the interplay between software and control and is motivated by the fundamental question whether or not and how software behavior can be controlled. In this paper, we formulate the underlying motivations and ideas of software cybernetics and review various existing research topics in this emerging area, including feedback mechanisms in software processes, bisimulation and controllability, adaptive software, software synthesis, software test process control, and adaptive testing. We identify software rejuvenation and performance control, software fault-tolerance, logical foundation for control systems, and communication complexity for control systems as potential research topics. Several on-going research projects are also summarized.

A useful framework for understanding methods is to think of them as being on a continuum of holistic and pattern focused to particularistic and specific. This paper argues for this conceptualization rather than thinking of quantitative and qualitative methods as oppositional and potentially contradictory. A case study provides an example of using both quantitative and qualitative methods in a holistic and pattern-focused study, while also attending to the values and goals of community psychology. The substantive research goal is to understand a child's experience of places related to school. Methods include ethnographic long-term participation and observation, interviews, multidimensional scaling, and social network analysis. Most quantitative method variables are generated from study participants; no outside structure is imposed. The quantitative methods extend and inform the qualitative methods, just as the qualitative methods extend and inform the quantitative methods. The quantitative and qualitative methods work reciprocally to extend and inform each other.

Over the past decade there has been an increasingly receptive audience for participatory and qualitative research methods by policy makers, development practitioners and academics working in applied research. At the same time there is an increasing awareness that the value of research can be enhanced through a more systematic combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. While this recent interest has begun to provide useful pointers as to how development research might be improved, it has also given rise to certain problems. This book will draw together lessons about emerging best practice with regard to combining qualitative and quantitative methods and approaches to generate numbers from qualitative/participatory methods and to monitor and evaluate development processes. It will build and expand upon innovation and reflection from practice in developing and developed societies, from within development agencies and academia, government departments and civil society organizations. By drawing on current research in many sectors and countries, the book will situate current development research issues squarely within debates about development policy and social research and it will help begin the process of defining best practice in the use of participatory/ qualitative and quantitative methods, and issues of methodological triangulation which are of considerable interest to academics, practitioners and policy makers. A genuine how to manual which combines best practice and new innovations and presents fascinating material for academics, practitioners and policy makers.

Improving interviewers’ skills is especially critical in the field of clinical psychology for the psychological support of clients. Although post-interview reflections are important for improving skills, most are conducted qualitatively. To prove the concept of visualization and punctuation of psychological counseling through the quantitative method in addition to the conventional qualitative method, this study attempted to combine a semi-quantitative method—Motivational Interviewing Skill Code (MISC)—and quantitative methods—natural language processing and Motion Energy Analysis (MEA)—with qualitative evaluations. We visualized the data of a case and examined whether this contributed to reflections of psychological interviews. The results of the analyses were almost consistent at the turning point of the interview and showed agreement between the results of MISC and MEA. The approaches were found to be complementary despite the differences in the type of information (verbal or nonverbal) and evaluation methods utilized. These outcomes suggest that visualization and punctuation of communication using both quantitative and qualitative methods may be useful for reflections of interview and improving interviewing skills. Employing quantitative methods will increase the reproducibility of evaluation results and provide further insight than that gained by conventional methods. These approaches can be applied for improving the skills of interviewers (e.g., post-interview reflecting) and enhancing diverse communication-related studies and practices.

Qualitative studies are gaining their credibility after a period of being misinterpreted as "not being quantitative." Qualitative method is a broad umbrella term for research methodologies that describe and explain individuals' experiences, behaviors, interactions, and social contexts. In-depth interview, focus groups, and participant observation are among the qualitative methods of inquiry commonly used in psychiatry. Researchers measure the frequency of occurring events using quantitative methods; however, qualitative methods provide a broader understanding and a more thorough reasoning behind the event. Hence, it is considered to be of special importance in psychiatry. Besides hypothesis generation in earlier phases of the research, qualitative methods can be employed in questionnaire design, diagnostic criteria establishment, feasibility studies, as well as studies of attitude and beliefs. Animal models are another area that qualitative methods can be employed, especially when naturalistic observation of animal behavior is important. However, since qualitative results can be researcher's own view, they need to be statistically confirmed, quantitative methods. The tendency to combine both qualitative and quantitative methods as complementary methods has emerged over recent years. By applying both methods of research, scientists can take advantage of interpretative characteristics of qualitative methods as well as experimental dimensions of quantitative methods.

Performance assurance activities are an essential step in the release cycle of software systems. Logs have become one of the most important sources of information that is used to monitor, understand and improve software performance. However, developers often face the challenge of making logging decisions, i.e., neither logging too little and logging too much is desirable. Although prior research has proposed techniques to assist in logging decisions, those automated logging guidance techniques are rather general, without considering a particular goal, such as monitoring software performance. In this paper, we present Log4Perf, an automated approach that provides suggestions of where to insert logging statement with the goal of monitoring web-based systems» software performance. In particular, our approach builds and manipulates a statistical performance model to identify the locations in the source code that statistically significantly influences software performance. To evaluate Log4Perf, we conduct case studies on open source system, i.e., CloudStore and OpenMRS, and one large-scale commercial system. Our evaluation results show that Log4Perf can build well-fit statistical performance models, indicating that such models can be leveraged to investigate the influence of locations in the source code on performance. Also, the suggested logging locations are often small and simple methods that do not have logging statements and that are not performance hotspots, making our approach an ideal complement to traditional approaches that are based on software metrics or performance hotspots. Log4Perf is integrated into the release engineering process of the commercial software to provide logging suggestions on a regular basis.

This article examines how the attention which media scholarship gives to only thequantitative research method impacts on journalism practice in Nigeria. Firstly, typicalmass media texts were purposively selected and presented on a titled table. SecondlyCritical Discourse Analysis (CDA) methods were used to analyse selected texts. Thirdlye-mailing and audio recording were used to elicit comments from a reporter and aneditor. The editor and the reporter who commented wrote the stories from which theselected newspaper texts were drawn. Lastly, elicited comments were used to buttressarguments as the analysis progressed. In Nigeria journalists report news withoutimputation. Reporting news without imputations flaws news presentation. In this articleflaws in news presentation are attributed to the attention which media scholarship inNigeria gives to only the quantitative research method. The article proposes that as thequalitative research method, more so than the quantitative method, imparts better criticalskills to journalists, the qualitative method should be emphasised more in mass mediaresearch.

This mixed methods study explored the impact of the use of a visualisation approach on the pedagogy of eight teacher participants who were involved in the Rundu Campus Fraction Project (RCFP). The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which participants incorporated visualisation processes in the pedagogy of fractions, in view of their exposure to visualisation activities in the RCFP. Since fractions are difficult to teach and learn, visualisation was considered as an alternative approach to the pedagogy of fractions because it presents learners with opportunities to improve their proportional and spatial reasoning. This study was founded on the premise that the incorporation of both verbal and nonverbal cues can enhance the teaching and learning of fractions rather than the use of a single cue. Hence, the two theories underpinning this study are the Dual Coding Theory and the Constructivist Theory. While the Dual Coding Theory advocates for the use of verbal and nonverbal codes, the Constructivist theory states that meaningful learning occurs when learners are presented with opportunities to construct their own knowledge. Thus, the two codes are intertwined. In other words, the active construction of knowledge among learners is aided by using constructivist teaching approaches through the incorporation of both verbal and nonverbal codes. Although this study was predominantly qualitative, quantitative methods were also used in the data collection process. A questionnaire was administered to identify teacher participants for this study, based on their teaching orientations. Their views on best practices in mathematics classrooms in general and the incorporation of visualisation processes in particular, were instrumental in the selection of participants for this study. In addition, observations and semi-structured interviews were also used as research methods. Twenty-five lesson samples were video recorded, transcribed and analysed using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Moreover, each of the eight participants was exposed to a set of pre- and post-observation interviews during which they were expected to express their views on the selection, incorporation and impact of visualisation processes on the teaching of fractions. Data sets from all three instruments were analysed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The findings indicate that the RCFP had an impact on the teaching strategies employed by the participants as they all incorporated visualisation processes into their teaching to some extent. In some lessons, the visual code was effectively blended into the verbal code while in others, the purpose of and connection between the two codes was not evident. Hence, although all the participants embraced the incorporation of visualisation in the pedagogy of mathematics, some of them struggled to find its rightful position in the teaching of fractions. The findings suggest that despite the participants’ eagerness to use visualisation in their fraction lessons, some of them did not have adequate knowledge to successfully merge it with the conventional verbal code. Thus, for the integration of visuals to be impactful, it should be carefully merged in the teaching of fractions by taking into account various factors.

BackgroundSubstance use among youth is a major public health concern. Of note, substance use among youth is increasing in prevalence, and the incidence of substance use at earlier ages is rising. Given the long-term consequences of early substance use, it is important to identify factors that increase youth vulnerability to drug use, as they may be important targets for future interventions.ObjectiveThis study aims to use innovative methods, such as venue-based sampling, to recruit youth who are disconnected from school and use community-based participatory research to gain a better understanding of the prevalence of substance use and important correlates among youth aged between 13 and 21 years in Paterson, New Jersey, a low-income, urban community. The study will use a convergent, mixed methods design involving multiple data collection components and the analysis of a ministrative data source, designed with the strengths of complex intervention frameworks in mind. The overall aims of the study are to identify the prevalence of substance use among youth who are engaged in school and not engaged in school; to understand important antecedents and correlates of substance use; and to use this information to inform social, environmental, and culturally appropriate interventions to address substance use and its correlates among youths in a lower-resourced urban community.MethodsThis study will use both qualitative and quantitative methods to address important questions. Specifically, semistructured interviews using focus group and interview methodologies will be used to assess youths’ lived experiences and will account for specific details that quantitative methods may not be able to attain. In addition, quantitative methods will be used to examine direct and multilevel associations between neighborhood factors and youth substance use and mental health outcomes.ResultsA previous analysis from a substance use initiative in Paterson, New Jersey found that youth who use substances such as marijuana and alcohol are more likely to have higher rates of depression and anxiety. On the basis of the research questions, this study will examine the association between neighborhood characteristics, substance use, and mental health symptoms among youth in Paterson by using quantitative and qualitative methods and will use these findings to inform the adaptation of a community- and evidence-based substance use prevention intervention for these youths.ConclusionsThe findings of this study will provide an important contribution to understanding the role of socioecological factors in predicting substance use and mental health outcomes among youth in a lower-resourced, urban community. Furthermore, these findings will serve as evidence for the development of a culturally informed, community-based prevention program to address substance use disparities for youth, including those who are truant in Paterson, New Jersey.International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)PRR1-10.2196/29427

Commentary on Shih SN, Gau ML, Kao Lo CH and Shih FJ (2005) Health Needs Instrument for hospitalised single‐living Taiwanese elders with heart disease: triangulation research design. <i>Journal of Clinical Nursing</i> 14, 1210–1222

This paper will discuss the theoretical design considerations and the practical integration of quantitative and qualitative methods in disability and rehabilitation research, which have gained recent popularity among researchers of various disciplines. Whereas quantitative experimental and survey approaches allow researchers to draw generalizable conclusions that apply to a particular population as a whole, qualitative methods capture the depth of respondents' experiences in their own words. Qualitative methods may be used to explore new topical areas prior to implementing a population-based survey, or they may follow quantitative approaches to explain findings in greater detail. We will discuss research findings from two recent studies of rehabilitation industry professionals and people with physical disabilities to exemplify the utility of mixed-method designs in disability and rehabilitation research. The article will conclude with recommendations for rehabilitation nursing researchers to apply both qualitative and quantitative methods in their research practice.

Best practice in speech-language pathology should be informed by current research findings. Traditional research methods are not always geared to address some of the complex, individual questions that arise in clinical intervention, however. Qualitative research methods may provide useful tools for bridging the gap from research to practice. Combinations of qualitative and quantitative procedures may be particularly helpful in sorting out some of the important issues surrounding language intervention in both clinical and research contexts. Examples of research blending qualitative and quantitative methods, as well as the case study of Sid, an 11-year-old boy with specific language impairment, are presented to illustrate how a combination of procedures can be used to enhance language research and intervention.

Software reviews are one of the most efficient quality assurance techniques in software engineering. They are required for the enhancement of the software quality in early phases of the development process and often used in development of safety critical systems. In the field of software engineering for Air Traffic Management (ATM) the standard DO-278/ED-109 requires the rigorous application of code reviews and fully traceable reporting of the results. This case study presents a process and an IDE-integrated tool that complies with the requirements of the standard.

The author examines a controversy over the methods used by federal agencies to enforce fair-lending laws. Some hold that investigators should use primarily qualitative reviews of documents in loan files in their investigations. Others hold that the qualitative methodology of file reviews is inadequate and needs to be supplemented or replaced by quantitative statistical methods. The author argues that the methods in the federal Interagency Fair Lending Examination Procedure should be revised to use a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods in a better way so that they complement each other. Investigations should rely primarily on quantitative methods to investigate institutional discrimination, but use the qualitative methods of file reviews in the investigation of individual agents for their discriminatory decisions.