MCom(Otago), PhD(Cantab), MIITP
Professor
Room 3.51, Otago Business School
Tel +64 3 479 5032
Email stephen.macdonell@otago.ac.nz
Research Gate Stephen_MacDonell
Google Scholar Stephen G MacDonell
Background and interests
I hold a part-time appointment as Professor in Information Science at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. I was awarded BCom(Hons) and MCom degrees from the University of Otago and a PhD from the University of Cambridge. My research has been published in IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology, ACM Computing Surveys, Empirical Software Engineering, Information & Management, the Journal of Systems and Software, Information and Software Technology, and the Project Management Journal, and I have presented my research findings at numerous international conferences.
I am a Fellow of IT Professionals NZ, Senior Member of the IEEE and the IEEE Computer Society, Member of the ACM, and I serve on the Editorial Board of Information and Software Technology.
I am also a Deputy Director, and Theme Leader for Data Science & Digital Technologies, in New Zealand’s National Science Challenge Science for Technological Innovation.
Research
I am a researcher of behavioural software engineering – my aim is to better understand and improve how we build and deploy software-intensive systems. My research is focused on four related aspects of empirical software engineering: teams, practices, analytics, and evidence. I use statistical, machine-learning and knowledge-based methods to model aspects of software practices, processes and projects, often in conjunction with expert-judgment approaches. My research on software processes and projects has attracted significant external funding, supporting the work of numerous postdoctoral researchers and postgraduate students.
See also my google scholar entry and my ResearchGate page (link above).
I am also part of the research group:
Information Systems and Software Engineering
International collaborative projects
Canada:
SEGAL, University of Victoria, Software ecosystems, 2018–present
Multi-national:
HELENA Project – Hybrid dEveLopmENt Approaches in software systems development, 2016–2021
Hong Kong:
Department of Computer Science, City University of Hong Kong, Prediction models for software effort and software faults, 2017–2019
Supervision
I have supervised through to completion 35 Doctoral students and 24 Master's thesis students. I am always keen to hear from top students who are interested in undertaking postgraduate study, for PhD and Master's degrees. Before making contact with me please read and consider these two documents:
- Research Wish List (PDF)
- Postgraduate Supervision (PDF)
Currently co-supervising
- Chathrie Wimalasooriya
- Pascal Omondiagbe
Grants and awards
Research grants
- 2016–2024, Callaghan Innovation, Science for Technological Innovation NSC, Deputy Director/Theme Leader, $2,100,000 (PI)
- 2014, Ministry of Health (MOH0044) Review of antidote, antitoxin and antivenom stocks, $50,000 (PI)
- 2007–2012, Foundation for Research, Science and Technology – Research for Industry (PROJ-12552-NMTS-UOAX0712), Software process and product improvement, $840,000 p.a., 1.10.07-30.09.12 (with Profs. John Grundy and John Hosking, University of Auckland NZ, and others) (Co-PI)
- 2010–2011, Foundation for Research, Science and Technology Pre-Seed Tech Jumpstart, FuzzyManager II, $10,000 (PI)
Research awards and distinctions
- Computing Research and Education Association of Australasia (CORE), John Hughes Distinguished Service Award, 2022
- ACM SIGSoft Distinguished Paper Award (with P. Tell, J. Klünder, S. Küpper, D. Raffo, J. Münch, D. Pfahl, O. Linssen and M. Kuhrmann), International Conference on Software and System Processes, 2019
- Best Paper Award (with S. Mensah, J. Keung, M.F. Bosu and K.E. Bennin), International Conference on Software Quality, Reliability and Security, 2017
- Best Paper Award (with B. Raza and T. Clear), 8th International Conference on Evaluation of Novel Approaches to Software Engineering, 2013
- Best Research Paper Award (with M.F. Bosu), 22nd Australasian Software Engineering Conference, 2013
- Best Short Paper Award (with M. Shepperd), 4th International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement, 2010
Teaching and Learning Grants
- Recipient of a SCIENCES Teaching and Learning Development Grant (University of Otago) to enable the development of animations to be incorporated in the teaching of difficult concepts in COMP 102.
- Recipient of an Educational Technology Support Services (ETSS) Teaching Technology grant (University of Otago) to support the development of:
(1) an automatic test assessment and feedback system for COMP 101
(2) formative and flexible self-assessment modules for COMP 102.
Publications
Omondiagbe, O. P., Licorish, S. A., & MacDonell, S. G. (2022). Preventing negative transfer on sentiment analysis in deep transfer learning. In W. Liu & L. Pang (Eds.), Proceedings of the Workshop on Deep Learning for Search and Recommendation (DL4SR). 3317. Retrieved from https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3317/
Ndukwe, I. G., Licorish, S. A., & MacDonell, S. G. (2022). Perceptions on the utility of community question and answer websites like Stack Overflow to software developers. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1109/TSE.2022.3220236
Ndukwe, I. G., Licorish, S. A., Tahir, A., & MacDonell, S. G. (2022). How have views on software quality differed over time? Research and practice viewpoints. Journal of Systems & Software. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2022.111524
MacDonell, S. (2022, June). The role of research with industry: Introducing the Aotearoa Digital Alliance (A collaborative research network). Verbal presentation at the Inaugural Data Steward Conference, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Wimalasooriya, C., Licorish, S. A., Alencar da Costa, D., & MacDonell, S. G. (2022). A systematic mapping study addressing the reliability of mobile applications: The need to move beyond testing reliability. Journal of Systems & Software, 186, 111166. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2021.111166
Schmidt, F., MacDonell, S. G., & Connor, A. M. (2012). An automatic architecture reconstruction and refactoring framework. In R. Lee (Ed.), Software engineering research, management and applications 2011: Studies in computer intelligence (Vol. 377). (pp. 95-111). Berlin, Germany: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-23202-2
Chapter in Book - Research
Frantzeskou, G., MacDonell, S. G., & Stamatatos, E. (2010). Source code authorship analysis for supporting the cybercrime investigation process. In C.-T. Li (Ed.), Handbook of research on computational forensics, digital crime, and investigation: Methods and solutions. Hersey, PA: IGI Global. doi: 10.4018/978-1-60566-836-9.ch020
Chapter in Book - Research
Bacic, B., Kasabov, N., MacDonell, S., & Pang, S. (2008). Evolving connectionist systems for adaptive sport coaching. In M. Ishikawa, K. Doya, H. Miyanoto & T. Yamakawa (Eds.), Neural information processing: Lecture notes in computer science (Vol. 4985). (pp. 416-425). Berlin, Germany: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-540-69162-4_43
Chapter in Book - Research
Kasabov, N., Song, Q., Benuskova, L., Gottgtroy, P., Jain, V., Verma, A., … MacDonell, S. (2008). Integrating local and personalised modelling with global ontology knowledge bases for biomedical and bioinformatics decision support. In T. G. Smolinski, M. G. Milanova & A.-E. Hassanien (Eds.), Computational intelligence in biomedicine and bioinformatics: Studies in computational intelligence (Vol. 151). (pp. 93-116). Berlin, Germany: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-540-70778-3
Chapter in Book - Research
Gottgtroy, P., Kasabov, N., & MacDonell, S. (2006). Evolving ontologies for intelligent decision support. In E. Sanchez (Ed.), Fuzzy logic and the semantic web. (pp. 415-439). Amsterdam: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/S1574-9576(06)80023-7
Chapter in Book - Research
Min, K., MacDonell, S., & Moon, Y.-J. (2006). Heuristic and rule-based knowledge acquisition: Classification of numeral strings in text. In A. Hoffman, B.-H. Kang, D. Richards & S. Tsumoto (Eds.), Advances in knowledge acquisition and management: Lecture notes in artificial intelligence (Vol. 4303). (pp. 40-50). Berlin, Germany: Springer. doi: 10.1007/11961239_4
Chapter in Book - Research
MacDonell, S. G., & Gray, A. R. (2001). Software engineering management. In P. Bourque & R. Dupuis (Eds.), Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK). (pp. 121-135). Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Computer Society Software Engineering Co-ordinating Committee.
Chapter in Book - Research
Gray, A. R., & MacDonell, S. G. (1998). Fuzzy logic techniques for software metric models of development effort. In W. Pedrycz & J. F. Peters (Eds.), Computational Intelligence in Software Engineering: Advances in fuzzy systems: Applications and theory (Vol. 16). (pp. 321-388). Singapore: World Scientific. doi: 10.1142/9789812816153_0012
Chapter in Book - Research
Bennin, K. E., Tahir, A., MacDonell, S. G., & Börstler, J. (2022). An empirical study on the effectiveness of data resampling approaches for cross‐project software defect prediction. IET Software, 16, 185-199. doi: 10.1049/sfw2.12052
Journal - Research Article
Ndukwe, I. G., Licorish, S. A., & MacDonell, S. G. (2022). Perceptions on the utility of community question and answer websites like Stack Overflow to software developers. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1109/TSE.2022.3220236
Journal - Research Article
Ndukwe, I. G., Licorish, S. A., Tahir, A., & MacDonell, S. G. (2022). How have views on software quality differed over time? Research and practice viewpoints. Journal of Systems & Software. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2022.111524
Journal - Research Article
Wimalasooriya, C., Licorish, S. A., Alencar da Costa, D., & MacDonell, S. G. (2022). A systematic mapping study addressing the reliability of mobile applications: The need to move beyond testing reliability. Journal of Systems & Software, 186, 111166. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2021.111166
Journal - Research Article
Rees, G. H., Crampton, P., Gauld, R., & MacDonell, S. (2021). Health workforce planning under conditions of uncertainty: Identifying supportive integrated care policies using scenario analysis. Journal of Integrated Care, 29(2), 153-169. doi: 10.1108/JICA-08-2020-0052
Journal - Research Article
Tahir, A., Bennin, K. E., Xiao, X., & MacDonell, S. G. (2021). Does class size matter? An in-depth assessment of the effect of class size in software defect prediction. Empirical Software Engineering, 26(5), 106. doi: 10.1007/s10664-021-09991-3
Journal - Research Article
Bosu, M. F., MacDonell, S. G., & Whigham, P. A. (2020). Analyzing the Stationarity Process in Software Effort Estimation Datasets. International Journal of Software Engineering & Knowledge Engineering, 30(11-12), 1607-1640. doi: 10.1142/S0218194020400239
Journal - Research Article
Rees, G. H., Crampton, P., Gauld, R., & MacDonell, S. (2020). Rethinking workforce planning for integrated care: Using scenario analysis to facilitate policy development. BMC Health Services Research, 20, 429. doi: 10.1186/s12913-020-05304-4
Journal - Research Article
Bosu, M. F., & MacDonell, S. G. (2019). Experience: Quality benchmarking of datasets used in software effort estimation. Journal of Data & Information Quality, 11(4), 19. doi: 10.1145/3328746
Journal - Research Article
Holvitie, J., Licorish, S. A., Spínola, R. O., Hyrynsalmi, S., MacDonell, S. G., Mendes, T. S., … Leppänen, V. (2018). Technical debt and agile software development practices and processes: An industry practitioner survey. Information & Software Technology, 96, 141-160. doi: 10.1016/j.infsof.2017.11.015
Journal - Research Article
Licorish, S. A., & MacDonell, S. G. (2018). Exploring the links between software development task type, team attitudes and task completion performance: Insights from the Jazz repository. Information & Software Technology, 97, 10-25. doi: 10.1016/j.infsof.2017.12.005
Journal - Research Article
Mensah, S., Keung, J., MacDonell, S. G., Bosu, M. F., & Bennin, K. E. (2018). Investigating the significance of the Bellwether effect to improve software effort prediction: Further empirical study. IEEE Transactions on Reliability, 67(3), 1176-1198. doi: 10.1109/TR.2018.2839718
Journal - Research Article
Rees, G. H., Crampton, P., Gauld, R., & MacDonell, S. (2018). Rethinking health workforce planning: Capturing health system social and power interactions through actor analysis. Futures, 99, 16-27. doi: 10.1016/j.futures.2018.03.009
Journal - Research Article
Rees, G. H., Crampton, P., Gauld, R., & MacDonell, S. (2018). The promise of complementarity: Using the methods of foresight for health workforce planning. Health Services Management Research, 31(2), 97-105. doi: 10.1177/0951484818770408
Journal - Research Article
Licorish, S. A., & MacDonell, S. G. (2017). Exploring software developers’ work practices: Task differences, participation, engagement, and speed of task resolution. Information & Management, 54(3), 364-382. doi: 10.1016/j.im.2016.09.005
Journal - Research Article
Rees, G. H., & MacDonell, S. (2017). Data gathering for actor analyses: A research note on the collection and aggregation of individual respondent data for MACTOR. Future Studies Research Journal, 9(1), 115-137.
Journal - Research Article
Fountain, J. S., Sly, B., Holt, A., & MacDonell, S. (2015). Availability of antidotes, antivenoms, and antitoxins in New Zealand hospital pharmacies. New Zealand Medical Journal, 128(1411). Retrieved from https://www.nzma.org.nz/journal
Journal - Research Article
Licorish, S. A., & MacDonell, S. G. (2015). Communication and personality profiles of global software developers. Information & Software Technology, 64, 113-131. doi: 10.1016/j.infsof.2015.02.004
Journal - Research Article
Whigham, P. A., Owen, C. A., & MacDonell, S. G. (2015). A baseline model for software effort estimation. ACM Transactions on Software Engineering & Methodology, 24(3), 20. doi: 10.1145/2738037
Journal - Research Article
Licorish, S. A., & MacDonell, S. G. (2014). Understanding the attitudes, knowledge sharing behaviors and task performance of core developers: A longitudinal study. Information & Software Technology, 56(12), 1578-1596. doi: 10.1016/j.infsof.2014.02.004
Journal - Research Article
Felizardo, K. R., MacDonell, S. G., Mendes, E., & Maldonado, J. C. (2012). A systematic mapping on the use of visual data mining to support the conduct of systematic literature reviews. Journal of Software, 7(2), 450-461. doi: 10.4304/jsw.7.2.450-461
Journal - Research Article
McLeod, L., Doolin, B., & MacDonell, S. G. (2012). A perspective-based understanding of project success. Project Management Journal, 43(5), 68-86. doi: 10.1002/pmj.21290
Journal - Research Article
Shepperd, M., & MacDonell, S. (2012). Evaluating prediction systems in software project estimation. Information & Software Technology, 54(8), 820-827. doi: 10.1016/j.infsof.2011.12.008
Journal - Research Article
Clear, T., & MacDonell, S. G. (2011). Understanding technology use in global virtual teams: Research methodologies and methods. Information & Software Technology, 53(9), 994-1011. doi: 10.1016/j.infsof.2011.01.011
Journal - Research Article
Frantzeskou, G., MacDonell, S. G., Stamatatos, E., Georgiou, S., & Gritzalis, S. (2011). The significance of user-defined identifiers in Java source code authorship identification. Computer Systems Science & Engineering, 26(2), 123-132.
Journal - Research Article
McLeod, L., & MacDonell, S. G. (2011). Factors that affect software systems development project outcomes: A survey of research. ACM Computing Surveys, 43(4), 24. doi: 10.1145/1978802.1978803
Journal - Research Article
McLeod, L., MacDonell, S. G., & Doolin, B. (2011). Qualitative research on software development: A longitudinal case study methodology. Empirical Software Engineering, 16(4), 430-459. doi: 10.1007/s10664-010-9153-5
Journal - Research Article
Connor, A. M., Limbu, D. K., MacDonell, S. G., & Pears, R. (2010). Improving web information retrieval using shared contexts. International Journal of Information Sciences & Computer Engineering, 1(2), 26-35.
Journal - Research Article
MacDonell, S., Shepperd, M., Kitchenham, B., & Mendes, E. (2010). How reliable are systematic reviews in empirical software engineering? IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 36(5), 676-687. doi: 10.1109/TSE.2010.28
Journal - Research Article
McLeod, L., MacDonell, S., & Doolin, B. (2009). IS development practice in New Zealand organisations. Journal of Research & Practice in Information Technology, 41(1), 3-24.
Journal - Research Article
Wang, Y., Song, Q., MacDonell, S., Shepperd, M., & Shen, J. (2009). Integrate the GM(1,1) and Verhulst models to predict software stage effort. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man & Cybernetics: Part C, 39(6), 647-658. doi: 10.1109/TSMCC.2009.2020690
Journal - Research Article
Frantzeskou, G., MacDonell, S., Stamatatos, E., & Gritzalis, S. (2008). Examining the significance of high-level programming features in source code author classification. Journal of Systems & Software, 81(3), 447-460. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2007.03.004
Journal - Research Article
McLeod, L., MacDonell, S. G., & Doolin, B. (2007). User participation in contemporary IS development: An IS management perspective. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 15(1), 113-136.
Journal - Research Article
McLeod, L., MacDonell, S., & Doolin, B. (2007). Standard method use in contemporary IS development: An empirical investigation. Journal of Systems & Information Technology, 9(1), 6-29. doi: 10.1108/13287260710817665
Journal - Research Article
Limbu, D. K., Connor, A. M., & MacDonell, S. G. (2005). A contextual information retrieval framework. Bulletin of Applied Computing & Information Technology. Retrieved from http://www.citrenz.ac.nz/bacit/0303/0303index.html
Journal - Research Article
MacDonell, S. G., & Gray, A. R. (2005). The viability of fuzzy logic modeling in software development effort estimation: Opinions and expectations of project managers. International Journal of Software Engineering & Knowledge Engineering, 15(5), 893-918. doi: 10.1142/S0218194005002555
Journal - Research Article
Marshall, M. R., Song, Q., Ma, T. M., MacDonell, S. G., & Kasabov, N. K. (2005). Evolving connectionist system versus algebraic formulas for prediction of renal function from serum creatinine. Kidney International, 67(5), 1944-1954. doi: 10.1111/j.1523-1755.2005.00293.x
Journal - Research Article
MacDonell, S. G. (2003). Software source code sizing using fuzzy logic modeling. Information & Software Technology, 45(7), 389-404. doi: 10.1016/S0950-5849(03)00011-9
Journal - Research Article
MacDonell, S. G., & Shepperd, M. J. (2003). Combining techniques to optimize effort predictions in software project management. Journal of Systems & Software, 66(2), 91-98. doi: 10.1016/S0164-1212(02)00067-5
Journal - Research Article
MacDonell, S. G., Buckingham, D., Gray, A. R., & Sallis, P. J. (2002). Software forensics: Extending authorship analysis techniques to computer programs. Journal of Law & Information Science, 13(1), 34-69.
Journal - Research Article
Kitchenham, B. A., Pickard, L. M., MacDonell, S. G., & Shepperd, M. J. (2001). What accuracy statistics really measure. Software, IEE Proceedings, 148(3), 81-85.
Journal - Research Article
MacDonell, S. G., & Gray, A. R. (2001). Software forensics applied to the task of discriminating between program authors. Systems Research & Information Systems, 10, 113-127.
Journal - Research Article