Using the Findings of a Mapping Study to Conduct a Research Project: A Case in Knowledge Management in Software Testing

A mapping study provides a broad overview of a research area in order to determine whether there is research evidence on a particular topic. Results of a systematic mapping may identify suitable areas for performing future research. In this paper, we discuss our experience in using the findings of a mapping study on Knowledge Management (KM) in Software Testing for performing a real research project, which also applied other empirical approaches. The main goals of this paper are: (i) to reinforce the importance of a systematic mapping in the conduction of a research project by discussing a real case of such application, and (ii) to present the results of our survey on the most important aspects of KM when applied to software testing.