In the last 15 years, software architecture has emerged as an importantsoftware engineering field for managing the development and maintenance oflarge, software- intensive systems. Software architecture community hasdeveloped numerous methods, techniques, and tools to support the architectureprocess (analysis, design, and review). Historically, most advances in softwarearchitecture have been driven by talented people and industrial experience, butthere is now a growing need to systematically gather empirical evidence aboutthe advantages or otherwise of tools and methods rather than just rely onpromotional anecdotes or rhetoric. The aim of this paper is to promote andfacilitate the application of the empirical paradigm to software architecture.To this end, we describe the challenges and lessons learned when assessingsoftware architecture research that used controlled experiments, replications,expert opinion, systematic literature reviews, obser- vational studies, andsurveys. Our research will support the emergence of a body of knowledgeconsisting of the more widely-accepted and well-formed software architecturetheories.
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