Search-based approaches for software development effort estimation

In the last years the use of Search-Based techniques has been suggested to estimate software development effort. These techniques are meta-heuristics able to find optimal or near optimal solutions to problems characterized by large space. In the context of effort estimation Search-Based approaches can be exploited to build estimation models or to enhance the effectiveness of other methods. The preliminary investigations carried out so far have provided promising results. Nevertheless, the capabilities of these approaches have not been fully explored and the empirical analyses carried out so far have not considered the more recent recommendations on how to perform this kind of empirical assessment in the effort estimation context and in Search-Based Software Engineering. The main aim of the PhD dissertation is to provide an insight on the use of Search-Based techniques for effort estimation trying to highlight strengths and weaknesses.