Software engineering researchers solve problems of
several different kinds. To do so, they produce several
different kinds of results, and they should develop
appropriate evidence to validate these results. They often
report their research in conference papers. I analyzed the
abstracts of research papers submitted to ICSE 2002 in
order to identify the types of research reported in the
submitted and accepted papers, and I observed the
program committee discussions about which papers to
accept. This report presents the research paradigms of
the papers, common concerns of the program committee,
and statistics on success rates. This information should
help researchers design better research projects and write
papers that present their results to best advantage.
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