Applications of Knowledge Acquisition in Experimental Software Engineering

Many tasks in experimental software engineering (ESE) involve the acquisition of knowledge. Only for very few of them systematic knowledge acquisition (KA) practices have been established. It is expected that these ESE tasks can be accomplished more effectively if the application of appropriate systematic KA methods is fostered. Most reports on KA applications in software engineering address only some selected aspects. A broader ESE perspective with its additional facets (e.g., quality and knowledge management issues) has not yet been presented so far. This paper surveys applications of knowledge acquisition in experimental software engineering, introduces a repository of knowledge elicitation (KEL) techniques, and suggests a methodology for the development of customised KA methods in experimental software engineering. Repository and methodology aim at fostering the dissemination of systematic KA practices in ESE. They are applied at Fraunhofer IESE to develop methods for the acquisition of experiential software engineering knowledge.