GTSE 2015 - 4th SEMAT Workshop on General Theories of Software Engineering

Most academic disciplines emphasize the importance of their core, central or general theories. Examples of general theories include Big Bang theory, Maxwell’s equations, the theory of the cell, the theory of evolution, the theory of demand and supply, the general theory of crime and the theory of marriage. Software engineering meanwhile, has not produced widely-accepted general theories. Lack of theory undermines the perceived scientific legitimacy of the field, curtails education and prohibits development of a cumulative body of knowledge. The GTSE workshop consequently supports attempts to propose, synthesizing, clarify and testing core, central and general theories in the software engineering domain. GTSE especially promotes attempts to answer fundamental questions, integrate ideas from diverse sources and propose revolutionary, contrarian and generally ambitious new theories.
Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):
New theories in software engineering
Groundbreaking extensions to existing theories
Groundbreaking synthesis of existing theories
Novel applications of theories from reference disciplines (e.g. sociology) to software engineering
Grounded theory, ethnography and qualitative approaches to theory building
Systematic literature reviews leading toward or generating insight into general theories
Empirical evaluation of general theories
Software engineering process theories
Research methodologies for general theory evaluation
Addressing core question for a general theory:
How can a general theory of software engineering be of practical use?
What core phenomena should it explain?
What questions should it address?
What should its main concepts be?
How are they related?
How should it be expressed?
How can it be tested?
How can it gain acceptance throughout both the academic community and industry?