Software quality assurance: An analytical survey and research prioritization

We present an overview of the Software Quality Assurance (SOA) research domain. An extensive review of the literature was conducted to identify areas that are being currently investigated or have received attention from the research community. Articles appearing in outlets appropriate for software and information engineering were considered. Our categorization scheme includes four key dimensions: technical, managerial, organizational, and economic. These primary dimensions were deduced from the literature, and sub-dimensions were induced to lead to a finer categorization scheme. We present a summary of the content and methodological orientation of present research. In its present state, the SQA domain has largely drawn upon principles and theories from other reference areas but their integration with the actual task and technology context is still in a rudimentary stage. This is especially true for research dealing with organizational and managerial issues. Further, there is limited examination of related thematic issues across the technical, managerial, organizational and economic strands. We conclude by recommending directions for future research. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.