%0 Journal Article %1 935855 %A Emam, Khaled El %A Benlarbi, Saïda %A Goel, Nishith %A Rai, Shesh N. %D 2001 %J IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering %K Classes LOC Metrics OOP Objects Size %N 7 %P 630--650 %R 10.1109/32.935855 %T The Confounding Effect of Class Size on the Validity of Object-Oriented Metrics %V 27 %X Much effort has been devoted to the development and empirical validation of object-oriented metrics. The empirical validations performed thus far would suggest that a core set of validated metrics is close to being identified. However, none of these studies allow for the potentially confounding effect of class size. We demonstrate a strong size confounding effect and question the results of previous object-oriented metrics validation studies. We first investigated whether there is a confounding effect of class size in validation studies of object-oriented metrics and show that, based on previous work, there is reason to believe that such an effect exists. We then describe a detailed empirical methodology for identifying those effects. Finally, we perform a study on a large C++ telecommunications framework to examine if size is really a confounder. This study considered the Chidamber and Kemerer metrics and a subset of the Lorenz and Kidd metrics. The dependent variable was the incidence of a fault attributable to a field failure (fault-proneness of a class). Our findings indicate that, before controlling for size, the results are very similar to previous studies. The metrics that are expected to be validated are indeed associated with fault-proneness

@article{935855, abstract = {Much effort has been devoted to the development and empirical validation of object-oriented metrics. The empirical validations performed thus far would suggest that a core set of validated metrics is close to being identified. However, none of these studies allow for the potentially confounding effect of class size. We demonstrate a strong size confounding effect and question the results of previous object-oriented metrics validation studies. We first investigated whether there is a confounding effect of class size in validation studies of object-oriented metrics and show that, based on previous work, there is reason to believe that such an effect exists. We then describe a detailed empirical methodology for identifying those effects. Finally, we perform a study on a large C++ telecommunications framework to examine if size is really a confounder. This study considered the Chidamber and Kemerer metrics and a subset of the Lorenz and Kidd metrics. The dependent variable was the incidence of a fault attributable to a field failure (fault-proneness of a class). Our findings indicate that, before controlling for size, the results are very similar to previous studies. The metrics that are expected to be validated are indeed associated with fault-proneness}, added-at = {2012-10-10T10:23:49.000+0200}, author = {Emam, Khaled El and Benlarbi, Saïda and Goel, Nishith and Rai, Shesh N.}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2b917e2637675f96a0d936a3db8e18726/gron}, description = {IEEE Xplore - The confounding effect of class size on the validity of object-oriented metrics}, doi = {10.1109/32.935855}, interhash = {d7c528e530551d488eb5bd824510aea7}, intrahash = {b917e2637675f96a0d936a3db8e18726}, issn = {0098-5589}, journal = {IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering}, keywords = {Classes LOC Metrics OOP Objects Size}, month = {July}, number = 7, pages = {630--650}, timestamp = {2013-07-29T22:06:54.000+0200}, title = {The Confounding Effect of Class Size on the Validity of Object-Oriented Metrics}, volume = 27, year = 2001 }