Value-Based Empirical Research Plan Evaluation

The planning phase of empirical studies is a success-critical key activity in empirical research to achieve best benefits for contributing stakeholders, e.g., researchers and industry partners, and to reduce study risks, e.g., insufficient validity and unaddressed stakeholder win conditions. The design of empirical studies typically covers issues of empirical methodology, but seldom explicitly discusses tradeoffs between conflicting study goals. This work proposes a value-based empirical research planning framework for eliciting and reconciling stakeholder win conditions in order to compare the benefits and risks of empirical study variants and reports on findings from an initial feasibility study in a ISERN meeting of empirical research experts.