A Goal-Driven Definition Process for Product Metrics Based on Properties

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Date
1998-10-15Author
Briand, Lionel
Morasca, Sandro
Basili, Victor R.
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Show full item recordAbstract
Defining product metrics requires a rigorous and disciplined
approach because useful metrics depend, to a very large extent, on one's
goals and assumptions about the studied software process. Unlike in more
mature scientific fields, it appears difficult to devise a "universal" set
of metrics in software engineering.
In this paper, we propose a metric definition process which is
based on both the experimental goals of measurement, expressed via the GQM
paradigm, and the study of the metrics' mathematical properties. This
process integrates several research contributions from the literature into
a consistent and practical process. This process is intended to be a
starting point for discussion about a widely accepted, practical product
metric definition process in the software engineering community.
(Also cross-referenced as UMIACS-TR-94-106)