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The Uncomfortable Discrepancies of Software Metric Thresholds and Reference Values in Literature

Authors:
Eudes Lima
Antônio Resende
Timothy Lethbridge

Keywords: software metrics; software measures; thresholds; reference values; systematic literature review

Abstract:
Software metrics perform a crucial role in the software industry because they provide measures needed to control software process and product, such as software quality, complexity, maintainability, and size. Measuring software allows one to diagnose whether the project is within expected norms or there is a deviation. However, many publications present metrics but omit thresholds or reference values that would give guidance about their ideal limits and range. Metrics might be used more frequently and effectively if they were accompanied by reliable reference values. We therefore present a Systematic Literature Review to find research that presents such reference values and thresholds. The keyword search phase of the systematic review generated 6.654 articles from IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, Ei Compendex, SCOPUS, and Elsevier Science Direct. Further filtering narrowed this to only 19 articles actually disucssing thresholds and reference values. We present an analysis of these papers, including a comparison highlighting discrepancies in the reference values and thresholds. The results serve as a starting point to guide further research.

Pages: 1 to 9

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2016

Publication date: August 21, 2016

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-4235

ISBN: 978-1-61208-498-5

Location: Rome, Italy

Dates: from August 21, 2016 to August 25, 2016