Variation Factors in the Design and Analysis of Replicated Controlled Experiments - Three (Dis)similar Studies on Inspections versus Unit Testing
Background. In formal experiments on software engineering, the number of factors that may impact an outcome is very high. Some factors are controlled and change by design, while others are are either unforeseen or due to chance. Aims. This paper aims to explore how context factors change in a series of for- mal experiments and to identify implications for experimentation and replication practices