Socio-Technical Grounded Theory for Software Engineering
Socio-Technical Grounded Theory (STGT) is presented, which defines what exactly is meant by an ST research context and presents the STGT guidelines that expand GT's philosophical foundations, provide increased clarity and flexibility in its methodological steps and procedures, and define possible scope and contexts of application.
Abstract
Grounded Theory (GT), a sociological research method designed to study social\nphenomena, is increasingly being used to investigate the human and social\naspects of software engineering (SE). However, being written by and for\nsociologists, GT is often challenging for a majority of SE researchers to\nunderstand and apply. Additionally, SE researchers attempting ad hoc\nadaptations of traditional GT guidelines for modern socio-technical (ST)\ncontexts often struggle in the absence of clear and relevant guidelines to do\nso, resulting in poor quality studies. To overcome these research community\nchallenges and leverage modern research opportunities, this paper presents\nSocio-Technical Grounded Theory (STGT) designed to ease application and achieve\nquality outcomes. It defines what exactly is meant by an ST research context\nand presents the STGT guidelines that expand GT's philosophical foundations,\nprovide increased clarity and flexibility in its methodological steps and\nprocedures, define possible scope and contexts of application, encourage\nfrequent reporting of a variety of interim, preliminary, and mature outcomes,\nand introduce nuanced evaluation guidelines for different outcomes. It is hoped\nthat the SE research community and related ST disciplines such as computer\nscience, data science, artificial intelligence, information systems, human\ncomputer/robot/AI interaction, human-centered emerging technologies (and\nincreasingly other disciplines being transformed by rapid digitalisation and\nAI-based augmentation), will benefit from applying STGT to conduct quality\nresearch studies and systematically produce rich findings and mature theories\nwith confidence.\n