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Vol: 57(71) No: 1 / March 2012 Using Qualitative Research to Explore Automation Level of Software Change Request Process: A Study on Very Small Software Companies Zeljko Stojanov University of Novi Sad, Technical Faculty “Mihajlo Pupin”, Djure Djakovica BB, 23000 Zrenjanin, Serbia, e-mail: zeljko.stojanov@tfzr.rs Keywords: software changer request, process automation level, very small software companies, qualitative research Abstract Software change request process is an essential sub-process in software maintenance that deals with modifications of software systems. This paper present an empirical study that uses qualitative research methods for investigating automation level of software change request process in local very small software companies. Findings of qualitative research provide a grounded understanding of the practice that is based on opinions of software experts. In research participated fifteen software experts from local very small software companies with various level of experience. Software experts were interviewed individually in their companies or participated in organized focus groups. Constructivist grounded theory methods were used as a suitable choice for discovering common practice and for creating explanations that are grounded in empirical data. Better understanding of the study is achieved through description of the research context and procedures. Research findings are presented with the focus on inductive analysis that led to identification of automation level as a property of software change request process. Analysis of empirical data reveals that very small software companies do not have automated software change request process, or have automated only parts of the process. In the paper are also considered validation and constraints of the study. 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