"One of the core issues in software engineering is that its approaches are not empirical enough because a real-world validation of approaches is usually absent,

"One of the core issues in software engineering is that its approaches are not empirical enough because a real-world validation of approaches is usually absent, or very limited and hence software engineering is often misinterpreted as feasible only in a "theoretical environment."" Software engineering is Engineering like sandwich Engineer is Engineering. They should use "specialist". It's not like they are using science to prove something will work.