Why Research on Test-Driven Development is Inconclusive?
This work addresses the issue for software engineering researchers and practitioners by providing insights to design better studies and make informed decisions, though it is incremental as it synthesizes existing research rather than introducing new methods.
The paper tackled the problem of contradictory and inconclusive research results on Test-Driven Development (TDD) by analyzing studies from the past decade, identifying five categories of factors that impact outcomes to help improve study reliability and inform practitioners.
[Background] Recent investigations into the effects of Test-Driven Development (TDD) have been contradictory and inconclusive. This hinders development teams to use research results as the basis for deciding whether and how to apply TDD. [Aim] To support researchers when designing a new study and to increase the applicability of TDD research in the decision-making process in the industrial context, we aim at identifying the reasons behind the inconclusive research results in TDD. [Method] We studied the state of the art in TDD research published in top venues in the past decade, and analyzed the way these studies were set up. [Results] We identified five categories of factors that directly impact the outcome of studies on TDD. [Conclusions] This work can help researchers to conduct more reliable studies, and inform practitioners of risks they need to consider when consulting research on TDD.