On the Relationship between Features Granularity and Non-conformities in Software Product Lines: An Exploratory Study

Within Software Product Lines (SPL) features are well understood and facilitate the communication among SPL developers and domain experts. However, the feature specification task is usually based on natural language, which can present lack of clarity, non-conformities and defects. In order to understand the feature non-conformity in SPL, this paper presents an empirical study to investigate the possible correlation between feature granularity and feature non-conformity, based on an SPL industrial project in the medical domain. The investigation aims at exploring the features non-conformities and their likely root causes using results from a previous study, which captured and classified 137 features non-conformities, identified in 92 features. The findings indicated that there is significant association between the variables feature interaction and feature granularity. From predictive models to estimate feature non-conformities based on feature granularity and feature interaction values, the variable feature interaction presented positive influence on the feature non-conformity and the variable feature granularity presented negative influence on the variable feature non-conformity.