Skip to content

R0007/2026-03-20/C004

Claim: In software engineering, every major study from Sackman (1968) through Oliveira (2023) confirms large individual variation. The most careful recent work suggests log-normal distributions with roughly a 2.4x ratio between top and bottom halves.

BLUF: The overall pattern of large individual variation from Sackman (1968) onward is well-confirmed. The "most careful recent work" finding log-normal distributions with a ~2.4x ratio is confirmed but is by Jorgensen (2023), not "Oliveira (2023)." The author attribution appears to be incorrect.

Probability: Likely (55-80%) | Confidence: Medium

Correction needed: The 2023 paper finding log-normal distributions with a 2.44x ratio is by Magne Jorgensen, not "Oliveira." Published in Information and Software Technology, Volume 159 (2023).


Summary

Entity Description
Claim Definition Claim text, scope, status
Assessment Full analytical product with reasoning chain
ACH Matrix Evidence x hypotheses diagnosticity analysis
Self-Audit ROBIS-adapted 4-domain process audit

Hypotheses

ID Hypothesis Status
H1 Claim is accurate as stated Eliminated
H2 Partially correct — findings confirmed but author attribution wrong Supported
H3 Claim is materially wrong Eliminated

Searches

ID Target Results Selected
S01 Sackman 1968 programmer variation 10 3
S02 Oliveira/Jorgensen 2023 log-normal 10 2

Sources

Source Description Reliability Relevance
SRC01 Sackman et al. (1968) High High
SRC02 Jorgensen (2023) High High
SRC03 Construx review of variation studies Medium High