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Dissertation Information for John A. Cross

NAME:
- John A. Cross

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- University of Pittsburgh (USA) (1987)

ADVISORS:
- James G. Williams

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Roger Flynn
- Allen Kent
- Donald Shirey
- Jeffrey Guy Bonar

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: The use of group software reviewing in university education for software engineering

Abstract: The practice of software reviewing includes a collection of established techniques for people to inspect software. The goals of software reviewing are to achieve management control of the software development process, improvements in software quality, improved productivity, and professional growth. The basis for helpful group review outcomes is the complementary, constructive insight of the individuals in a review group. In university education for software engineering, software reviewing is not only a valid object of study, it may also be a pedagogically useful activity. If a collection of individual comments and judgments about a software element from the members of a student review team possess the fundamental qualities of complementary, useful insight, then it should be possible to use software reviewing as a valid learning activity for a variety of software engineering principles.

The empirical data which are reported in this document were collected in a study which contrasted three types of procedures for group software reviewing in an undergraduate class in software engineering principles. The immediate goal of this study was to obtain empirical data which support or discredit specific procedures in student software reviews. Prototype software tools, appropriate materials, and procedure details are important byproducts of the study, together with data on the ability of students to produce complementary, constructive insights into the quality of software requirements and system specifications. The three procedures involved conventional face-to-face interaction, computer-mediated interaction, and independent reaction by a subject to his or her remarks merged with the remarks of three other students. The empirical study supported a group size of four or five for a student review of pre-code software. A balanced grouping procedure produced more reliable coverage of issues than a random grouping. The computer-mediated group interaction was refined during the study. It offered an interesting learning experience in group interaction. Face-to-face interaction is familiar and reliable, which makes it the recommended way to introduce people to group software reviews. Independent reaction to a group's remarks offered a challenging activity in reflection and analysis, and raised some questions about possible productivity improvement in the practice of software reviewing. Immediately useful results included the methodology for studying software reviewing, the precoordination concept, and direction for further research.

MPACT Scores for John A. Cross

A = 0
C = 1
A+C = 1
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:23:02

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