A qualitative method for mining open source software repositories

John Noll, Dominik Seichter, Sarah Beecham

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

The volume of data archived in open source software project repositories makes automated, quantitative techniques attractive for extracting and analyzing information from these archives. However, many kinds of archival data include blocks of natural language text that are difficult to analyze automatically. This paper introduces a qualitative analysis method that is transparent and repeatable, leads to objective findings when dealing with qualitative data, and is efficient enough to be applied to large archives. The method was applied in a case study of developer and user forum discussions of an open source electronic medical record project. The study demonstrates that the qualitative repository mining method can be employed to derive useful results quickly yet accurately. These results would not be possible using a strictly automated approach.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationOpen Source Systems
Subtitle of host publicationLong-Term Sustainability - 8th IFIP WG 2.13 International Conference, OSS 2012, Proceedings
EditorsImed Hammouda, Tommi Mikkonen, Walt Scacchi, Björn Lundell
PublisherSpringer New York LLC
Pages256-261
Number of pages6
ISBN (Print)9783642334412
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2012
Event8th IFIP WG 2.13 International Conference on Open Source Systems: Long-Term Sustainability, OSS 2012 - Hammamet, Tunisia
Duration: 10 Sep 201213 Sep 2012

Publication series

NameIFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology
Volume378 AICT
ISSN (Print)1868-4238

Conference

Conference8th IFIP WG 2.13 International Conference on Open Source Systems: Long-Term Sustainability, OSS 2012
Country/TerritoryTunisia
CityHammamet
Period10/09/1213/09/12

Keywords

  • Electronic Medical Record
  • Open Source Software
  • Qualitative Research

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