The Theory of Relative Dependency: Higher Coupling Concentration in Smaller Modules

Our observations on several large-scale software products has consistently shown that smaller modules are proportionally more defect prone. These findings, challenge the common recommendations from the literature suggesting that quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) resources should focus on larger modules. Those recommendations are based on the unfounded assumption that a monotonically increasing linear relationship exists between module size and defects. Given that complexity is correlated with the size.