Metrics Validation Proposals: A Structured Analysis

Abstract

In the literature, the expression metrics validation is used in many ways with different meanings. This paper analyzes and compares some of the validation approaches currently proposed. The basis for this analysis is a process model for software measurement methods which identifies the distinct steps involved from the design of a measurement method to the exploitation of the measurement results. This process model for software measurement methods is used to position various authors’ validation criteria according to the measurement process to which they apply. This positioning enables the establishment of relationships among the various validation approaches. It also makes it possible to show that, because none of these validation approaches proposed to date in the literature covers the full spectrum of the process of measurement methods, a complete and practical validation framework does not yet exist.