Rory O'Connor's research interests are centered on the processes whereby software intensive systems are designed, implemented and managed. Dr. O'Connor is particularly interested in researching methods and techniques for supporting the work of software project managers and software developers in relation to software process improvement, software project planning and management of software development projects. To date, his research has centered around five distinct areas within the overall theme of software project and process management. These are Software Process Modeling, Software Process Improvement, Software Project Management, Software Project Knowledge Elicitation and Usage, and Tools for Project and Process Management.

Currently he and his research students are involved in three separate research projects. The first of these is the exploration of the merging of 'best practices' from multiple agile process paradigms, specifically XP and DSDM. The second project investigates the relationship between expert knowledge and team performance with regard to factors that affect team performance on software development projects. The final project investigates technology selection practices by software engineering practitioners, specifically decision criteria and issues with regard to the selection of programming languages for information systems development projects.