There has been controversy around p-values in recent years, often linked to issues with reproducibility in psychology. p-values are also often reported in empirical software engineering papers. We haven’t yet seen widespread public controversy about software engineering studies, but that’s not because there aren’t problems!
The American Statistical Association has just released a clarifying statement about p-values. (pdf)
p-values are not inherently broken. The problems are about mis-interpreting them, about poor study design and practice, and about poor reporting. The ASA statement seems like a useful contribution to the debate.