Software engineering (SE) experiments suffer from threats to validity that may impact their results. Replication allows researchers building on top of previous experiments’ weaknesses and increasing the reliability of the findings. Illustrating the benefits of replication to increase the reliability of the findings and uncover moderator variables. We replicate an experiment on test-driven development (TDD) and address some of its threats to validity and those of a previous replication. We compare the replications’ results and hypothesize on plausible moderators impacting results. Differences across TDD replications’ results might be due to the operationalization of the response variables, the allocation of subjects to treatments, the allowance to work outside the laboratory, the provision of stubs, or the task. Replications allow examining the robustness of the findings, hypothesizing on plausible moderators influencing results, and strengthening the evidence obtained.

中文翻译：

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通过复制提高有效性：一个说明性的 TDD 案例

软件工程 (SE) 实验的有效性受到威胁，可能会影响其结果。复制允许研究人员在先前实验的弱点之上进行构建，并提高研究结果的可靠性。说明复制的好处，以提高调查结果的可靠性并发现调节变量。我们复制了一个关于测试驱动开发 (TDD) 的实验，并解决了它对有效性和先前复制的一些威胁。我们比较了重复的结果并假设了影响结果的合理调节因素。TDD 复制结果的差异可能是由于响应变量的操作化、受试者对治疗的分配、实验室外工作的允许、存根的提供或任务。