Teaching Empirical Methods at Eindhoven University of Technology
Alexander Serebrenik, Nathan Cassee
TL;DR
This experience report examines teaching a ten-week master course on empirical methods in software engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology. It details a structured design with learning objectives, lectures, and hands-on workshops (Reading Empirical Papers, Mining Software Repositories, Threats to Validity) plus an exam and two major assignments (Design a Study, Describe a Study), implemented across three years to address diverse student backgrounds. The authors discuss challenges including aligning theory with practice, scaffolding novice researchers, and managing resource constraints, and outline iterative improvements and the practical materials they share for replicability. The work provides actionable guidance for educators seeking to run empirical methods courses in computational programs and contributes to the discourse on how to balance abstract theory with real-world research practice in software engineering education.
Abstract
In this chapter, we share an experience report of teaching a master course on empirical research methods at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. The course is taught for ten weeks to a mix of students from different study programs and combines both practical assignments with a closed-book exam. We discuss the challenges of teaching a course on research methods and explain how we address these challenges in the course design. Additionally, we share our lessons learned and the do's and don'ts we learned over several iterations of teaching the course.