@misc{9177,
  author = {Aiko Yamashita and Leon Moonen},
  title = {Assembling Multiple-Case Studies: Potential, Principles and Practical Considerations},
  abstract = {Case studies are a research method aimed at holistically analyzing a phenomenon in its context. Despite the fact that they cannot be used to answer the same precise research questions as, e.g., can be addressed by controlled experiments, case studies can cope much better with situations having several variables of interest, multiple sources of evidence, or rich contexts that cannot be controlled or isolated. As such, case studies are a promising instrument to study the complex phenomena at play in Software Engineering. However, the use of case studies as research methodology entails certain challenges. We argue that one of the biggest challenges is the case selection bias when conducting multiple-case studies. In practice, cases are frequently selected based on their availability, without appropriate control over moderator factors. This hinders the level of comparability across cases, leading to internal validity issues. In this paper, we discuss the notion of assembling cases as a plausible alternative to selecting cases to overcome the selection bias problem when conducting multiple-case studies. In addition, we present and discuss our experiences from applying this approach in a study designed to investigate the impact of software design on maintainability.},
  year = {2014},
  journal = {Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering (EASE 2014)},
}