Replicating and Re evaluating the Theory of Relative Defect Proneness
Authors -
Mark, D. Syer;
Meiyappan, Nagappan;
Bram, Adams and
Ahmed, E. Hassan
Venue -
Accepted in IEEE Transactions of Software Engineering, September 2014
Related Tags -
Abstract -
A good understanding of the factors impacting defects in
software systems is essential for software practitioners, because it
helps them prioritize quality improvement efforts (e.g., testing and code
reviews). Defect prediction models are typically built using classification
or regression analysis on product and/or process metrics collected at
a single point in time (e.g., a release date). However, current defect
prediction models only predict if a defect will occur, but not when, which
makes the prioritization of software quality improvements efforts difficult.
To address this problem, Koru et al. applied survival analysis techniques
to a large number of software systems to study how size (i.e., lines of
code) influences the probability that a source code module (e.g., class
or file) will experience a defect at any given time. Given that 1) the
work of Koru et al. has been instrumental to our understanding of the
size-defect relationship, 2) the use of survival analysis in the context of
defect modelling has not been well studied and 3) replication studies
are an important component of balanced scholarly debate, we present
a replication study of the work by Koru et al. In particular, we present
the details necessary to use survival analysis in the context of defect
modelling (such details were missing from the original paper by Koru et
al.). We also explore how differences between the traditional domains of
survival analysis (i.e., medicine and epidemiology) and defect modelling
impact our understanding of the size-defect relationship. Practitioners
and researchers considering the use of survival analysis should be
aware of the implications of our findings.
Preprint -
PDF
BibTex -
@article{Syer2014,
author = {Mark, D. Syer and Meiyappan, Nagappan and Bram, Adams and Ahmed, E. Hassan},
keyword = {Defect Prediction},
title = {Replicating and Re evaluating the Theory of Relative Defect Proneness},
type = {journal},
venue = {Accepted in IEEE Transactions of Software Engineering, September 2014}
}