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Reviewer: James Edward Tomayko

Perhaps a better subtitle for this book would be a handbook instead of an introduction. The authors give a thorough overview of experimentation, especially empirical studies, which will be of use both to engineers evaluating a tool or method and to academics building a research program. The book starts a little slowly: the authors begin by giving a high-altitude view of experimentation and measurement in general. Fears of a shallow treatment quickly disappear, however, once they begin to concentrate on the empirical method. The authors detail a process of setting up and evaluating experiments, and figuring out which data to use and how to interpret it. A full chapter is devoted to each step of the process. There is also a nice compendium of useful statistical techniques, and appendices contain tables of relevant values. A case study based on a comparison of languages using the data gathering techniques of the Personal Software Process is included. Overall, this book is a much-needed addition to the reference shelves of both managers wanting to choose among technologies and beginning researchers.