SHAH-DISSERTATION-2014

272 Pages·2014·18.2 MB·English

AN ETHNOGRAPHICALLY-INFORMED ANALYSIS OF THE
INFLUENCE OF CULTURE ON GLOBAL SOFTWARE-TESTING
PRACTICE
ADissertation
Presentedto
TheAcademicFaculty
by
HinaShah
InPartialFulfillment
oftheRequirementsfortheDegree
DoctorofPhilosophyinthe
CollegeofComputing
GeorgiaInstituteofTechnology
August2014
Copyright©2014byHinaShah
AN ETHNOGRAPHICALLY-INFORMED ANALYSIS OF THE
INFLUENCE OF CULTURE ON GLOBAL SOFTWARE-TESTING
PRACTICE
Approvedby:
Dr. NancyNersessian, Dr. AlexOrso
CommitteeChairandAdvisor SchoolofComputerScience
SchoolofInteractiveComputing GeorgiaInstituteofTechnology
GeorgiaInstituteofTechnology
Dr. MaryJeanHarrold,Advisor Dr. ColinPotts
SchoolofComputerScience SchoolofInteractiveComputing
GeorgiaInstituteofTechnology GeorgiaInstituteofTechnology
Dr. GregoryAbowd Dr. WendyNewstetter
SchoolofInteractiveComputing External,DepartmentofBiomedical
GeorgiaInstituteofTechnology Engineering
GeorgiaInstituteofTechnology
DateApproved: May02,2014
To my advisor, Dr. Mary Jean Harrold,
forbelievinginmemorethanIbelievedinmyself;
to my caring parents, parents-in-law, and Alpa didi,
forsupportingmethroughthisjourney;
and above all, to my loving husband, Samir,
forbeingmystrengthinmakingourdreamcometrue.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My accomplishments throughout the Ph.D. journey, which included its fair share of highs
andlows,couldnothavebeenpossiblewithoutthesupportofmanyofmyfamilymembers,
friends, mentors, and loved ones. Acknowledging all those who made this Ph.D. journey
successfulisjustonewaytoexpressmygratitudetowardsthemfordispensingtheirsupport
andblessing.
Its true that one’s Ph.D. academic advisor is an academic parent. I have been fortunate
tohavetwoterrificadvisors—Dr. MaryJeanHarroldandDr. NancyJ.Nersessian—asmy
academic mothers and role models. They has been my source of inspiration, determina-
tion, and power. I am indebted to Professor Mary Jean for her unmatched dedication and
relentless effort in supporting and training me to become who I am today. Although her
absence has left a void in my life, she has left behind incredible memories and valuable
lessons that I will always treasure. I would like to thank Professor Nancy for her excellent
support, understanding, and inspiring leadership. Her expertise and exceptional guidance
wasasignificantcontributorinshapingsuchaninterdisciplinarytopicofresearchandsuc-
cessfully performing the ethnographic investigation. I will always be grateful to both my
advisors for sharing their personal and professional experiences, which became a guiding
lightformethroughoutmyyearsofstudy.
I have been fortunate to have a distinguished set of professors on my defense commit-
tee: Dr. Gregory Abowd, Dr. Wendy Newstetter, Dr. Alex Orso, and Dr. Colin Potts.
Many thanks to my committee members for their insightful guidance, much appreciated
directions, and support. In particular, I am extremely grateful to Professor Wendy for pro-
vidingmehertimetohavemanyinsightfulandintriguingresearchdiscussionsandoffering
iv
meinvaluableadvicebasedonherexpertiseandexperienceperformingethnographicstud-
ies. Without her indispensable guidance, I would not have been able to fully appreciate
the essence and deep-rooted power of this qualitative method. Also, I am grateful to Lisa
Osbeck, Mike McCracken, Karen Head, and Bradd Shore for their feedback and advice,
whichhelpedmeexpandmyknowledgeandlearningduringthestudyperiod.
IamindebtedtomanymembersoftheAristotleResearchgroupincludingbutnotlim-
ited to Saswat Anand, George Baah, Sarah Clark, Shauvik Choudhary, Jake Cobb, Sang-
min Park, and Raul Santelics. Their moral, emotional, and intellectual support played a
major role in making this Ph.D. journey a success. Moreover, my first family of friends
at Georgia Tech included Nikhil Almedia, Krimy Amichandwala, Kedar Gaonkar, Nikunj
Nemani, Rushabh Shah, Riddhish Shah, Varun Shah, Vinit Shah, and Rohan Vora; and to
themIoweahugedebtofgratitudeforalltheirsupport,care,andlove. Inaddition,Iwant
to acknowledge my “ethno-comardes”—Sherif Abdelmohsen, Altug Kasali, and Vrishali
Subramaniam—who made my passion for such a research topic more fun, intriguing, and
interesting. The lengthy discussions with them, ranging from philosophical ideas to prac-
tical challenges, in performing the ethnographic analysis, coding, and validation provided
a terrific platform for learning and sharing. Moreover, many thanks to Bryan Wiltgen and
Klara Benda for their invaluable feedback during the defense, which helped me clarify my
presentation material leading to a better presentation. Finally, I want to thank my rela-
tives,ShwetaandAmishKania,andPranayandSharmilaShah,andmylovinglittlesisters
Pragya and Shrestha for being an extended family to me and making me feel at home in
Atlanta.
There are some members in my friends and extended family circle, whose support has
been with me even before this Ph.D. journey began. I am greatly indebted to my friends
Prashant(Amol)ShahandDr. AbhijeetVaderaforitwastheirtimelyguidancethatdirected
metomakesomecorrectdecisionsinmyacademiclife. ThankstomyfriendsfromIndia—
Samarth Patel, Ashok Lalwani, Mayur Nachnani, and Nidhi Pardasani—for believing in
v
me and supporting me during some tough times. In addition, my uncles Sunder Agrawal,
Jyotindra Khatlawala, and aunty Chaya Khatlawala have always bestowed their blessings,
which became my strength on several occasions. Moreover, I want to acknowledge my
mentorSunilJoglekarforstronglybelievinginmeandbolsteringmymoralewithhiskind
andencouragingwordstimeandagain.
The participant groups form the supreme determinants of qualitative research studies
such as the one I performed in my Ph.D. research. I am deeply grateful to my participant
organizations and the participant members for their cooperation, time, and trust in me. It
wasbecauseoftheirsupportandcooperationthatIwasabletoperformanuncompromised
researchinvestigation.
My Ph.D. achievement has been a common dream that many members of my family
shared. Iamtrulyshortofwordsheretoexpressthegratitudetowardsmyfamilyforbeing
anundeterredsupportsystemforme. Iwanttothankmyparents,BhupendraandTarunika
Shah, and darling sister (didi), Dr. Alpa Shah, for having faith in me and having the confi-
denceinmycapabilities. Idorealizethatthissuccesswouldnothavebeenpossiblewithout
myparents’countlesssacrifices,sleeplessnights,andunmatchedefforttoprovidemewith
a positive and encouraging environment to flourish. Without my sister’s tough love, moth-
erlycare,andsiblingsupportmysuccessesandachievementswouldhavebeenimpossible.
They were the ones who seeded this dream and made it happen. Words cannot describe
the deep gratitude I extend to my dear brother-in-law, Dr. Akash Shah, for understanding
my struggles, providing me with constant encouragement, and always being my hidden
strength. Many thanks to my parents-in-law, Jayu and Shivling Jamkhande, for being so
patient and understanding with me and providing me with every kind of support I needed
to pursue this dream. Thanks to my brother- and sister-in-laws (Dr. Amol Jamkhande, Dr.
SharmilaJamkhande,NikhilJamkhande,andMinalJamkhande)forbeingverysupportive
throughoutthejourney.
Finally, I dedicate this work to my dear husband, Samir Jamkhande, for his matchless
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support, love, and encouragement throughout the period of my study. He sacrificed many
familymomentsandalwaysgavemystudieshigherpriorityoverotherexpectations. Hehas
always been there to celebrate my achievements, bear with all my complaints, brainstorm
my research ideas, listen to my thoughts and frustrations, and above all sail through the
difficult times with me. I have and always will admire him for being a fierce protector of
myemotions,executorofmydreams,andalovingpartnerineverysense.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv
LISTOFTABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv
LISTOFFIGURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi
I INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 LiteratureReview—RelatedWork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2.1 Ethnography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2.2 Qualitative(Ethnographic)StudiesinSoftwareEngineering . . . . 7
1.2.3 StudiesrelatedtoGlobalSoftwareEngineering . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.2.4 CulturalBasedResearchinGlobalSoftwareEngineering . . . . . 18
1.2.5 LimitationsofExistingResearch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.3 ResearchQuestion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
1.4 OverviewoftheDissertation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
II CONCEPTUALIZINGCULTURE:CULTURALMODELSAPPROACH . 24
2.1 CultureasDimensionsApproach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.2 CultureasModelsPerspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.3 LimitationsofCultureAsDimensionsPerspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.3.1 DimensionsNotEmbodiedinthePractice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.3.2 DimensionPoseRiskofStereotyping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.3.3 MeaningofCultureSignificantlyLimited. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.3.4 CultureViewedasStatic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.3.5 CultureCategorizedBasedonVariousBoundaries. . . . . . . . . 32
2.4 ThinkingandActingthroughModels—ReferenceFramework . . . . . . 32
2.5 IllustratingCulturalModelsInSoftwareEngineering . . . . . . . . . . . 36
viii
2.5.1 SoftwareEngineering: AModularizedCulture. . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.5.2 OwningratherthanModularizing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.5.3 SoftwareTestingas“SecondStandard”Field. . . . . . . . . . . . 40
III METHOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.1.1 Ethnographically-InformedStudy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.1.2 IndigenousEthnographer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.1.2.1 Advantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.1.2.2 PotentialPitfalls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.1.3 StudiesStructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.1.4 Organizations’Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.2 StudyS1: Semi-StructuredInterviewsBasedStudy . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.2.1 DesignDetails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.2.2 ParticipantDetails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.3 StudyS2: Semi-StructuredInterviewsandObservationsStudy . . . . . . 60
3.3.1 DesignDetails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.3.2 ParticipantDetails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.4 StudyS3: Ethnographically-InformedStudy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.4.1 DataCollectionProcedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
3.4.1.1 EthnographicInterviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.4.1.2 EthnographicObservations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
3.4.1.3 MeetingSessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.4.1.4 FocusGroups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
3.4.1.5 ArtifactsandProjectDocumentsAccess . . . . . . . . 71
3.4.2 AnalysisMethod: ThematicAnalysisApproach . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.4.3 ValidationMethod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
3.4.3.1 Inter-raterreliability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
3.4.3.2 Triangulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
3.4.3.3 MemberValidation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
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3.4.4 ParticipantsDetail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
3.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
IV DESCRIBINGTHECUSTOMARYPRACTICEOFGST . . . . . . . . . . 84
4.1 CharacteristicsofGSTExperience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4.1.1 FacilitatingTraining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
4.1.2 SelectingManualorAutomationTesting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.1.3 BringinginPower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4.1.4 CapturingScreenshotsasProofs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
4.1.5 EncounteringQuality-DilemmaSituation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
4.1.6 GoverningFactor: Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
4.1.7 StrivingforMotivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
4.2 TeamStructure’sInfluenceonTestingExperience . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
4.2.1 Client-VendorTeamStructure: IncreasedPressure . . . . . . . . . 100
4.2.2 Vendor-SideTeamStructure: “MultipleChannelsofHierarchy” . 101
4.3 ChallengesEncounteredandStrategiesAdopted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
4.3.1 ChallengesofHigh-QualityGSTUnderPressure . . . . . . . . . 103
4.3.2 StrategiesAdoptedtoOvercomeSomeChallenges . . . . . . . . 105
V DESCRIBINGTHECULTURALPRACTICESINGST . . . . . . . . . . . 108
5.1 ComparingVendorPerceptionsofClients’TestingPractices . . . . . . . . 108
5.1.1 MeaningofTesting: DifferentApproachesandPerceptions . . . . 110
5.1.1.1 “Kensa”TestingGroup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
5.1.1.2 “DifferenceintheLevelofThought” . . . . . . . . . . 112
5.1.1.3 “DepthandBreadthofTesting”(UsingResources) . . . 114
5.1.1.4 “AttentiontoDetail”(MakingAssumptions) . . . . . . 115
5.1.1.5 DifferentTrustLevels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
5.1.2 Discussion: ReasonsfortheDifferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
5.1.2.1 UncertaintyAvoidingCulturesTestThoroughly . . . . 117
5.1.2.2 QualityisBasedonPerception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
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