Hello there 👋,
thanks for participating in an interactive study for this research project. I hope you've already filled out the declaration of consent I have sent you. If there are any problems with that or any other part of this study do not hesitate to contact me via mail: me@dnsc.io
You are participating in a study on Playful Experiences within the Onboarding Process of Software Development Projects. In the following you are going to be guided through an interactive visualization of a software project. Within that visualization you are going to be able to reveal certain parts of the project, that might be of value in an onboarding process. The visualizations are going to be accompanied by some questions on the visualization itself but also on the broader aspect of using game mechanics in software development.
Disclaimer
Do not expect a real game experience within this study. This study aims to gather initial feedback on certain aspects of which information could be interesting to include within software development onboarding and how its presentation changes how it is perceived. The visualization of the in-game elements is therefore very abstract. The arguably more important part of this study are the answers to the questions you will be asked in the end, so please answer them carefully. Thanks in advance, let's start now!
Information about data protection and declaration of consent
Dear participant,
thank you for your interest in participating in this study on ”Playful Experiences in the Onboarding Process of Software Development Projects”. This study takes place as a part of my master thesis on “Onboarding in Software Development Projects as a Space of Play”. The thesis is written as a part of the new Joint Master "Human-Computer Interaction" of the FH Salzburg and the University of Salzburg. In order to use your personal data, we would need your written declaration of consent. Please, carefully read the following information.
General Study Information
The goal of this study is to research how software developers experience playful approaches on the onboarding process into new projects. The results of this study are going to contribute to the research body of both the software development field but also the field of “Play”. From the study results conclusions are going to be drawn about: The openness towards playful experiences in the software development field, possible hurdles on implementing such experiences, the general attitude of developers towards play in the field and the selection of what information to include in onboarding processes.
Overall study procedure
The participant will take part in a hybrid-study setting. Part of the study consists of going through an interactive visualization of an open-source software project and revealing parts of information within some parts of the project. The other part of the study consists of questions on the visualization and general questions on the intersection of Play and software development. The study can be accessed online and can be finished online without additional work on the participants side. Overall the procedure should take between 15 and 25 minutes.
Rights
The participation in this study is voluntary. You may withdraw or stop your participation at any time without incurring any consequences. Moreover, you can request information about the processed personal data at any time, even after the termination of the study (for further information see also Confidentiality and data processing). If you have any questions please contact the study leader.
Risks
You do not incur any risks by participating in this study. If you feel uncomfortable during the study you can cancel at any time without giving reasons and without incurring any consequences.
Confidentiality and Data Processing
Your data will only be processed within the aforementioned project if you give your written consent. The data is going to be processed via the Firebase platform (https://firebase.google.com/) on european servers. For additional information on their privacy and data protection guidelines visit their documentation at https://policies.google.com/u/0/privacy. The following data is going to be processed within the study:
- Demographic Information (Name, Age, Professional Background, Years of Experience, Gender)
- Your actions within the visualization (Timestamps of Clicks and Mouse moves together with the timestamps of certain events)
- Your answers to the questions that are part of the study
After the end of the study, the data is going to be exported from Firebase and the underlying app instance is going to be deleted. This data is going to be kept strictly confidential and is not going to be passed on to further third parties. The data is going to be analyzed and then used within my master thesis. If you only want to be mentioned anonymously in my thesis please indicate so at the bottom. If you are doing that your name and age are going to be hidden in my thesis and your data is only going to be connected to a random ID.
Renumeration
You will not receive an expense allowance for participation.
Consent
I have carefully read and understood the declaration of consent. Any additional questions were answered to my satisfaction. My participation is voluntary, and I know that I can withdraw at any time, even without giving reasons, without incurring any disadvantages. By clicking on “Agree” below I agree to the processing of my personal data collected for this study and I am willing to participate.
General Questions
Please provide some additional information about you below:
The study itself
Now we're ready to dive into this study. After clicking on the button below you are dropped into a visualization of a software development project. This project is a monorepo, more specifically the ethereumjs monorepo. You are controlling a little player character with your mouse. The character consists of a head and tail. As soon as its head touches elements on the screen you are able to interact with them. That should be all you need for now, just drop in now and take a look at what is there.
Have fun! 🤟