Addressing the challenges of replications of surveys in software engineering research

Surveys are a popular research tool often used in empirical software engineering studies. While researchers are urged to replicate existing surveys, such replication brings with it challenges. This paper presents a concrete example of a replication of a survey used to determine the extent of adoption of software development best practice. The study replicated a European survey which was adapted and administered in a different context of Australian software development organisations. As well as discussing problems encountered, this paper presents a set of recommendations formulated to overcome identified challenges. Implementation of the recommendations would strengthen the value and contribution of surveys to the body of knowledge of empirical software engineering research.