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Using situational and narrative analysis for investigating the messiness of software security

Abstract

Background: Software engineering work and its context often has characteristics of what in social science is termed 'messy'; it has ephemeral and irregular qualities. This puts high demands on researchers doing inquiry and analysis. Aims: This paper aims to show what a combination of situational analysis (SA) and narrative analysis (NA) can bring to qualitative software engineering research, and in particular for situations characterised by mess. Method: SA and NA were applied to a case study on software security. Results: We found that these analysis methods helped us gain new insights and understandings and a broader perspective of the situation we are studying. Additionally, the methods helped collaboration in the analysis. Conclusion: We recommend applying and studying these and similar combinations of analysis approaches further.
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Category

Academic article

Language

English

Author(s)

Affiliation

  • SINTEF Digital / Software Engineering, Safety and Security
  • Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Year

2020

Published in

International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement

ISSN

1949-3770

Page(s)

1 - 6

View this publication at Norwegian Research Information Repository