This document presents information about case studies in software engineering. It begins with introducing the presenter Noor Rehman and providing a definition of case studies as systematic inquiries that aim to describe, investigate, and explain events or phenomena of interest. It then discusses the history of case studies in software engineering from the 1970s to present. The document outlines different types of case studies, purposes of case studies, methods of data collection, and reasons for conducting case studies. It concludes by describing how to identify a case study based on having research questions, planned data collection, inferences made from the data, and producing an explanation or analysis of the phenomenon under investigation.

1. TODAY PRESENTATION
NAME: NOOR REHMAN
EMAIL : Noorkust301@gmail.com
University of Science and Technology Bannu
Pakistan

2. WHAT IS CASE STUDY
It is a systematic inquiry into an
event or a set of related events
which aims to describe,
investigate and explain the
phenomenon of interest.

3. Continue…..
 The case is the core/ center stage of
inquiry
 A case study is a report of descriptive information
on data of research of an experiment, project,
event or analysis
 Case studies describe, but don’t predict
 To gain a deep understanding of a phenomenon

4. HISTORY OF CASE STUDIES IN
SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
 In the late 1970s the term case study first
appeared in software engineering journal
papers .
 In the mid- to late-1980s, papers started to
report case studies of a broader range.
Alexander and Potter’s self-experienced and
self-reported investigation.

5. Continue………
 Throughout the 1990s the scale of these “self
investigations” increased and adopted by
multinational organizations such as Boeing,
Hughes, Motorola, NASA, and Siemens.
 During the 1990s, both demonstration studies
and genuine case studies.
 For the period 1995–1999 and found that only
2.2% of these publications reported

6. Continue………….
 But the first comprehensive guides to case
study research in software engineering were
not published until 2009, by Runeson and
Host and Verner et al.
 Runeson and H ¨ ost’s paper was ¨ published
in the peer-reviewed journal Empirical
Software Engineering and provides the
foundation for this book.

7. Five parts of a case study
research design
 1. Research questions
2. Propositions (if any)
3. Unit(s) of analysis
4. Logic linking of data to the
propositions
5. Criteria for interpreting the
findings

8. Types of case study
 An intrinsic case study is typically undertaken
to learn about a unique phenomenon. The
researcher should define the uniqueness of the
phenomenon, which distinguishes it from all
others.
 instrumental case study uses a particular case
(some of which may be better than others) to
gain a broader appreciation of an issue or
phenomenon.
 collective case study involves studying
multiple cases simultaneously or sequentially in

9. Purposes
 Explanatory
Explanatory used for conducting casual (reasons) investigation
• Exploratory
Used for very important foundation/ground in research to explore the
basic idea of the research
• Descriptive
It develops a descriptive theory before starting the project

10. Data collection
 Documentation
 Historical records
 Interviews
 Direct observations
 Participant observation

11. Methods and analysis of data
collection
 side by side This is done in 3 stages
Stage 1- Describing experience- The data collected from multiple
sources are mapped; and then categorized using color codes, taxonomies
and
chronological ordering.
Stage 2- Describing meaning- In this stage the researcher
consults the literature and links the research questions and methods to
the philosophical frame work.
Stage-3 Focus on the analysis-
Here the attention is to selected details enhances the analysis and
increases the clarity of reasoning.

12. Why we conduct a case study
 To gain a deep understanding of a phenomenon
 Example: To understand the capability of a new
tool
 Example: To characterize the process of coming
up to speed on a project

13. Continue……..
 Objective of Investigation
•Exploration- To find what’s out there
•Characterization- To more fully describe
•Validation- To find out whether a
theory/hypothesis is true or false
 Subject of Investigation
•An intervention, e.g. tool, technique, method,
approach to design, implementation, or
organizational structure

14. How can I tell it’s a case
study?
 ™Research questions set out from the beginning
of the study
 Data is collected in a planned and consistent
manner
™Inferences are made from the data to answer
the
research questions
 Produces an explanation, description, or causal
analysis of a phenomenon

15. THE END