Are You a Real Software Engineer? Best Practices in Online Recruitment for Software Engineering Studies

Adam Alami, Mansooreh Zahedi, Neil A. Ernst

Research output: Contribution to book/anthology/report/conference proceedingArticle in proceedingResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Online research platforms, such as Prolific, offer rapid access to diverse participant pools but also pose unique challenges in participant qualification and skill verification. Previous studies reported mixed outcomes and challenges in leveraging online platforms for the recruitment of qualified software engineers. Drawing from our experience in conducting three different studies using Prolific, we propose best practices for recruiting and screening participants to enhance the quality and relevance of both qualitative and quantitative software engineering (SE) research samples. We propose refined best practices for recruitment in SE research on Prolific. (1) Iterative and controlled prescreening, enabling focused and manageable assessment of submissions (2) task-oriented and targeted questions that assess technical skills, knowledge of basic SE concepts, and professional engagement. (3) AI detection to verify the authenticity of free-text responses. (4) Qualitative and manual assessment of responses, ensuring authenticity and relevance in participant answers (5) Additional layers of prescreening are necessary when necessary to collect data relevant to the topic of the study. (6) Fair or generous compensation post-qualification to incentivize genuine participation. By sharing our experiences and lessons learned, we contribute to the development of effective and rigorous methods for SE empirical research. particularly the ongoing effort to establish guidelines to ensure reliable data collection. These practices have the potential to transferability to other participant recruitment platforms.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings - 2024 IEEE/ACM International Workshop on Methodological Issues with Empirical Studies in Software Engineering, WSESE 2024
Number of pages6
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Publication date16 Apr 2024
Pages52-57
ISBN (Electronic)9798400705670
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 16 Apr 2024
EventWSESE '24: 1st IEEE/ACM International Workshop on Methodological Issues with Empirical Studies in Software - Lisbon, Portugal
Duration: 16 Apr 202416 Apr 2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/proceedings/10.1145/3643664

Conference

ConferenceWSESE '24: 1st IEEE/ACM International Workshop on Methodological Issues with Empirical Studies in Software
Country/TerritoryPortugal
CityLisbon
Period16/04/202416/04/2024
Internet address

Keywords

  • Empirical Software Engineering
  • Online Research Platforms
  • Participant Recruitment
  • Prolific
  • prolific
  • participant recruitment
  • online research platforms
  • empirical software engineering

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Are You a Real Software Engineer? Best Practices in Online Recruitment for Software Engineering Studies'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this