An Embedded Multiple-Case Study on OSS Design Quality Assessment across Domains

Context: Investing on Open Source Software (OSS) as a “code reuser”, involves certain risks, such as the difficulty in understanding the level of OSS design quality Aim: We investigate the levels of design quality of OSS projects, across different application domains. Method: We conducted a case study, which is the most fitting research method for observing a phenomenon in its real context, which is active for a long period of time, and for which variables cannot be controlled. Results: We present the values for seven design quality metrics of 546 OSS projects, as well as the statistically significant differences across application domains. Conclusions: The results of the study suggest that OSS application domains correlate with several design quality characteristics, in the sense that projects within one application domain appear to have similar levels of design quality. In addition to that, the results reveal application domains with high and low levels of design quality.