Technical Tool Surveys and Comparative Studies: A Systematical Approach

Abstract

Comparative studies and surveys on different technologies are common practices in research environments, not only when planning a new research line, but also in enterprise environment, for example, when a new project is going to be developed and the suitable technology must be selected. In the research context, an ordinary and formal method frequently followed to analyse the situation is the Systematic Literature Review (SLR). However, SLR is not enough, if the study is oriented towards comparing technologies or tools solutions. This paper presents a mechanism to be applied systematically in surveys and comparative studies of tools and technological solutions. It is based on general concepts defined in SLR, but it extends them in order to cover other necessities. The paper illustrates how this mechanism is applied to a real project named THOT and it offers conclusions and learned lessons from the last trends.