Comment by Supermancho

> The limits of code review are quite well known

That's factually incorrect. The arguments over what constitutes proper code reviews continues to this day with few comprehensive studies about syntax, much less code reviews - not "do you have them" or "how many people" but methodology.

> it appears very questionable what scientific knowledge is actually gained here

The knowledge isn't from the study existing, but the analysis of the data collected.

I'm not even sure why people are upset at this, since it's a very modern approach to investigating how many projects are structured to this day. This was a daring and practical effort.