Analysing the use of graphs to represent the results of systematic reviews in software engineering

Simple item page
aut.researcherMacDonell, Stephen Gerard
dc.contributor.authorFelizardo, KR,
dc.contributor.authorRiaz, M,
dc.contributor.authorSulayman, M,
dc.contributor.authorMendes, E
dc.contributor.authorMacDonell, SG
dc.contributor.authorMaldonaldo, JC
dc.date.accessioned2011-12-10T07:42:28Z
dc.date.available2011-12-10T07:42:28Z
dc.date.copyright2011
dc.date.issued2011
dc.description.abstractThe presentation of results from Systematic Literature Reviews (SLRs) is generally done using tables. Prior research suggests that results summarized in tables are often difficult for readers to understand. One alternative to improve results' comprehensibility is to use graphical representations. The aim of this work is twofold: first, to investigate whether graph representations result is better comprehensibility than tables when presenting SLR results; second, to investigate whether interpretation using graphs impacts on performance, as measured by the time consumed to analyse and understand the data. We selected an SLR published in the literature and used two different formats to represent its results - tables and graphs, in three different combinations: (i) table format only; (ii) graph format only; and (iii) a mixture of tables and graphs. We conducted an experiment that compared the performance and capability of experts in SLR, as well as doctoral and masters students, in analysing and understanding the results of the SLR, as presented in one of the three different forms. We were interested in examining whether there is difference between the performance of participants using tables and graphs. The graphical representation of SLR data led to a reduction in the time taken for its analysis, without any loss in data comprehensibility. For our sample the analysis of graphical data proved to be faster than the analysis of tabular data. However, we found no evidence of a difference in comprehensibility whether using tables, graphical format or a combination. Overall we argue that graphs are a suitable alternative to tables when it comes to representing the results of an SLR.
dc.identifier.citationProceedings of the 25th Brazilian Symposium on Software Engineering (SBES 2011), São Paulo, Brazil, pp. 174 - 183
dc.identifier.doi10.1109/SBES.2011.9
dc.identifier.isbn978-1-4577-2187-8
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10292/3064
dc.publisherIEEE Computer Society Press
dc.relation.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1109/SBES.2011.9
dc.rightsCopyright © 2011 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.
dc.rights.accessrightsOpenAccess
dc.subjectSystematic Literature Review
dc.subjectVisual Text Mining
dc.subjectComputer science
dc.subjectContext
dc.subjectData visualization
dc.subjectEducational institutions
dc.subjectSoftware engineering
dc.subjectSystematics
dc.subjectVisualization
dc.titleAnalysing the use of graphs to represent the results of systematic reviews in software engineering
dc.typeConference Contribution
pubs.organisational-data/AUT
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/Design & Creative Technologies
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/Design & Creative Technologies/School of Computing & Mathematical Science
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/PBRF Researchers
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/PBRF Researchers/Design & Creative Technologies PBRF Researchers
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/PBRF Researchers/Design & Creative Technologies PBRF Researchers/DCT C & M Computing
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Felizardo, Riaz, Sulayman, Mendes, MacDonell and Maldonado (2011) SBES.pdf
Size:
203.4 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
licence.htm
Size:
29.98 KB
Format:
Unknown data format
Description:
Download
Collections
SERL - Software Engineering Research Laboratory