Adoption of Machine Learning Techniques to Perform Secondary Studies: A Systematic Mapping Study for the Computer Science Field

Leonardo Cairo, Glauco Carneiro, Bruno C. da Silva

2019

Abstract

Context: Secondary studies such as systematic literature reviews (SLR) have been used to collect and synthesize empirical evidence from relevant studies in several areas of knowledge, including Computer Science. However, secondary studies are time-consuming and require a significant effort from researchers. Goal: This paper aims to identify contributions derived from the adoption of machine learning (ML) techniques in Computer Science SLRs. Method: We performed a systematic mapping study querying well-known repositories and first found 399 studies as a result of applying the search string in each of the selected search engines. Following the research protocol, we analyzed titles and abstracts and applied inclusion, exclusion and quality criteria to finally obtain a set of 17 studies to be further analyzed. Results: The selected papers provided evidence of relevant contributions of the machine learning usage in performing secondary studies. We found that ML techniques have not been applied yet to all the stages of a SLR. Typically, the preferred stage to apply ML in an SLR is the study selection phase (typically the initial phase). For assessing the effectiveness of ML support while performing SLRs, researchers have provided a comparison either across different ML techniques tested or between manual and ML-supported SLRs. Conclusion: There is significant evidence that the use of machine learning applied to SLR activities (especially the study selection activity) in Computer Science is feasible and promising, and the findings can be potentially extended to other research fields. Also, there is a lack of studies exploring ML techniques for other stages than study selection.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Cairo L., Carneiro G. and C. da Silva B. (2019). Adoption of Machine Learning Techniques to Perform Secondary Studies: A Systematic Mapping Study for the Computer Science Field.In Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems - Volume 2: ICEIS, ISBN 978-989-758-372-8, pages 351-356. DOI: 10.5220/0007780603510356

in Bibtex Style

@conference{iceis19,
author={Leonardo Cairo and Glauco Carneiro and Bruno C. da Silva},
title={Adoption of Machine Learning Techniques to Perform Secondary Studies: A Systematic Mapping Study for the Computer Science Field},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems - Volume 2: ICEIS,},
year={2019},
pages={351-356},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0007780603510356},
isbn={978-989-758-372-8},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems - Volume 2: ICEIS,
TI - Adoption of Machine Learning Techniques to Perform Secondary Studies: A Systematic Mapping Study for the Computer Science Field
SN - 978-989-758-372-8
AU - Cairo L.
AU - Carneiro G.
AU - C. da Silva B.
PY - 2019
SP - 351
EP - 356
DO - 10.5220/0007780603510356