Informatics is a relatively young eld within sci-
ence and engineering. Its research and develop-
ment methodologies build on the scientic and de-
sign methodologies in the classical areas, often with
new elements to it. We take an in-depth look at one
of the less well-understood methodologies in infor-
matics, namely
experimentation.
What does it mean to do experiments in in-
formatics? Does it make sense to `import' tradi-
tional principles of experimentation from classical
disciplines into the eld of computing and informa-
tion processing? How should experiments be docu-
mented? These are some of the questions that are
treated.
The report argues for the key role of empiri-
cal research and experimentation in contemporary
Informatics. Many IT systems, large and small,
can only be designed sensibly with the help of
experiments. We recommend that professionals and students alike are well-educated in the prin-
ciples of sound experimentation in Informatics. We
also recommend that experimentation protocols are
used and standardized as part of the experimental
method in Informatic
