Procedures for performing systematic reviews

Abstract

The objective of this report is to propose a guideline for systematic reviews appropriate for software engineering researchers, including PhD students. A systematic review is a means of evaluating and interpreting all available research relevant to a particular research question, topic area, or phenomenon of interest. Systematic reviews aim to present a fair evaluation of a research topic by using a trustworthy, rigorous, and auditable methodology. The guideline presented in this report was derived from three existing guidelines used by medical researchers. The guideline has been adapted to reflect the specific problems of software engineering research. The guideline covers three phases of a systematic review: planning the review, conducting the review and reporting the review. It is at a relatively high level. It does not consider the impact of question type on the review procedures, nor does it specify in detail mechanisms needed to undertake meta-analysis.