Issues arising from refactoring studies: an experience report

In theory, refactoring should reverse the trend in code decay and many studies have explored the different facets of refactoring (both its trends and characteristics). While much progress has been made in this area, a number of observations about refactoring studies have become evident to us over the past seven years in the time during which we have been undertaking empirical studies in this area. This paper outlines our experiences of the issues that arise with refactoring studies. We outline six of those issues, together forming the set of challenges that are still prevalent in this area. The purpose of the paper is thus to put under the spotlight the real potential benefits of refactoring, but more importantly the challenges that our experiences have raised