PrioriTTVs: A process aimed at supporting researchers to prioritize threats to validity and their mitigation actions when planning controlled experiments in SE

摘要

Context Researchers argue that a critical component of any empirical study in Software Engineering (SE) is to identify, analyze, and mitigate threats to validity.Objective: We propose PrioriTTVs, a process to support researchers in identifying and prioritizing threats to validity and their corresponding mitigation actions when planning controlled experiments in SE. We also introduce a tool to support the entire process.Method: Empirical studies were conducted with six experts and 20 postgraduate students to evaluate the ease of use, learning, and perceptions of satisfaction regarding PrioriTTVs.Results: So far, participants have considered PrioriTTVs to be useful (83%), significantly contributing to learning (90%), and satisfaction (75%).Conclusions: We believe both novice and expert users can benefit from the process we propose for addressing threats to validity when conducting SE experiments. We also intend to extend our approach to manage threats specific to different SE experiment contexts.