Empirical studies using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods

Cross- and multi-disciplinary methods and studies

Experiments and quasi-experiments

Case studies, action research, and field studies

Survey research

Systematic literature reviews that include a strong synthesis part (not just mapping studies)

Meta-analysis, qualitative and quantitative synthesis of studies

Replication of empirical studies and families of studies

Modelling, measuring, and assessing product and/or process quality

Development and evaluation of empirical prediction systems or software estimation models

Mining software engineering repositories

Simulation-based studies in software engineering

New ideas pertaining to empirical evaluation of software engineering technologies, methods, and tools, e.g., transferring and applying empirical methods from other disciplines to empirical software engineering

Empirically-based decision making

Evaluation and comparison of techniques and models

Assessing the benefits/costs associated with using certain development technologies

Industrial experience, software project experience, and knowledge management

Software technology transfer to industry

Infrastructures and novel techniques/tools for supporting any phase of empirical studies