Empirical Evaluation in Software Engineering Essay

Empirical Evaluation in Software Engineering - Essay Example The systems developed are inherently complex by nature not to mention that they are constantly changing and this has in a large part required empirical evaluations to be carried out especially with regards to the large systems so as to incorporate continuity. Question 2 What factors might make it difficult to conduct an empirical evaluation of the scenario? Explain five factors and relate each of them to the scenario. There are several factors that might make it difficult to conduct an empirical evaluation in this scenario. They include: i. The researcher’s inexperience. The complex nature of carrying out such tasks requires one to have experience in this field. In this scenario, the person concerned has not even studied this subject and this coul prove to be a mjor stumbling block. ii. Inadequate resources. In order to carry out an empirical evaluation, large amount of resources are required. In our scenario, it might not be possible to acquire adequate funding to carry out s uch a project and therefore transforming theory into reality via empirical evaluation might not be possible. iii. Cumbersome. ... v. Inadequate information.Another difficulty might come about when seeking further information with regards to the two methods. There is very little information on the matter as there has been little or no reaserch done cocerning this. Question 3 Using the Fenton and Pfleeger model, why is it hard to show that an lntegrated Development Environment (such as those stated in the scenario) leads to improvements in the software project, or in the quality of the software produced. The end product in software production is greatly dependent on two factors; the experience of the developers and the input applied to the development process. A high quality software at the end of the day should do what it was intended for but in a simpler manner and for this to come to fruittion, it depends largely on the design principles and the developer. The Integrated Development Environment lays more emphasis on the ease of use, manageability and user interfaces. This makes it more difficult to evaluate th e importance of determining the quality of the controls, resources and input since they are determined by the developers. Further, in order to determine the output, provision of empirical evidence is key so as to predict it. Coming back to our scenario, this is not practical because of the complexities and numerous functionalities of the environments (Lewis & Veerapillai 2005) Question 4 Critically discuss the benefits and limitations of the case study and the survey study to answer'- the friend's question. There are many benefits that can be realised through conducting a case study method in the evaluation process. Some of these benefits may include; quantifying of the various benefits and functionalities that may be realised in a single

Clinical Focus and Advocacy in Patients Care in Specialist Nursing Literature review

Clinical Focus and Advocacy in Patients Care in Specialist Nursing Practice - Literature review Example The current trend of offering master’s programs in nursing schools was seen to start begin around the 1970’s with the gradual phasing out of the public health nursing programs in most of the schools offering public health studies. The very first programs to start preparing and offering Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) courses started doing so in the 1950’s (Fulton, Lyon and Goudreau 2010). A clinical nurse specialist (CNS) can be described basically as an advanced practice and registered nurse who has undergone graduate preparation resulting in their earning a master’s or doctorate from one of the programs that prepares clinical nursing specialists. Clinical nurse specialists are generally experts at the diagnosis and eventual treatment of illness that fall in their area of expertise. The focus of clinical nurse specialist generally falls into three basic areas; these areas are administration, patients and their respective families and nurse management. Although these three spheres are seen to be interrelated and it is quite normal for them to overlap, they are quite different and possess distinctive focus from each other. In all three areas of influence, the primary role of the CNS is to ensure that there is continuous improvement of the nursing care and patient outcome in general (Fulton, Lyon and Goudreau 2010). The rest of a medical facilities nursing staff tend to look to the Clinical Nurse Specialist to help them improve the efficiency in the work place as well as to receive guidance as they perform their everyday nursing duties. Some of the key elements of practicing CNS is to ensure that there is the creation of an environment that can be seen to implement effective system changes and mentoring programs that will help in the empowerment of nurses who are better able to adequately respond to the diverse patient needs, and develop caring best practices that are not only evidence based but are also able to alleviate