Date: May 12th, 2022
Study Name: Understanding Whether and How Build Code Changes Are Reviewed
Principal Investigator: Dr. Shane McIntosh (shane.mcintosh@uwaterloo.ca), School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo
Students and Co-Investigators: Mahtab Nejati, Ph.D. student, School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo, Dr. Mahmoud Alfadel, Postdoctoral fellow, School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo
Purpose of the Research: This study aims to first uncover how rigorously build code changes are reviewed during the code review process. It will also investigate the practices reviewers employ specifically for build code review, how these practices differ from other common practices for code review, and what the challenges for reviewing build code changes are.
What you will be asked to do in the study: The interview will take about 1 hour and requires either Zoom or Skype and a good internet connection. Before the start of the interview, you are asked to fill out a questionnaire about your background and development/code review experience. Then, you are invited to schedule an interview with one of the investigators. During the interview, you will be asked questions regarding build specification code review. We will follow up with a questionnaire, which collects any further knowledge about the topic you might want to share. We also ask you to refer us to people whose experience and insights might help us in expanding our findings around the topic. In some rare cases, we may contact you through the provided email address and ask you to conduct a follow-up interview through a Zoom or Skype call. Follow-up interviews will be semi-structured, and the questions will be inspired by your prior responses for further clarifications.
Who may participate: You need to be at least 18 years of age and have experience working with build specification files whether as a developer/maintainer or as a reviewer. You are not required to have experience in both of the positions and only one or the other will qualify you as a participant.
Benefits: Participation in this study may not provide personal benefits to you but will help us identify the root cause of the fewer comments build code changes receive during code review. This may set a new track of research with the goal of mitigating the negative impacts of this observed phenomena. By sharing your experiences and knowledge regarding build you will help us characterize the best practices for build code review and recognize the shortcomings of current code review tools and procedures. Such insights will set expectations for future code review tools that make the procedure easier for the developer community.
Risks and Discomforts: We do not foresee any risks or discomfort from your participation in the research.
Voluntary Participation: Your participation in the study is entirely voluntary, and you may choose to stop participating at any time. You can skip any question during the interview or demand the interview to cease at any point. In the event you withdraw from the study, all associated data collected will be immediately destroyed. You may choose to withdraw from the study before, during, and after the interview up until a week. After one week, the collected information will be processed and the results will be included in the study. While the original transcripts will be disposed of after the publication of the work, we will keep the result of our analysis on the data.
Confidentiality: You will be participating in interviews conducted by the researchers. The interviews will be held online over Zoom or Skype. The interview transcripts will be kept anonymous and no identifiable information will be recorded. Your voice will only be recorded upon your approval, will not be shared with anyone outside the research team, will only be kept securely on a secure server at the University of Waterloo for a maximum of one month, and will be immediately removed upon your demand at any time during or after the interview. We will not collect any identifiable information except an email address. You can create a specific email address for this study to maximize your anonymity. We may contact you in the future regarding this study through this email address. Your identity associated with all the information you supply will be held in confidence, and your email will not appear in any report or publication of the research. Your data will be safely stored in a locked facility stored on a secured UW server, and only research staff will have access to this information. This includes any information you share about your experiences when working in certain companies or organizations, i.e., any company/organization name you might choose to share will be immediately anonymized (while transcribing) and kept confidential. Confidentiality will be provided to the fullest extent possible by law. The dataset without identifiers may be shared publicly. Your identity will be confidential. If you got the invitation email through your company mailing list, the company you work for will not be provided with any participant information and will not know who participated. Finally, interview transcripts will be retained for a minimum of seven years, at which time they will be deleted. When information is transmitted over the internet, privacy cannot be guaranteed. There is always a risk your responses may be intercepted by a third party (e.g., government agencies, hackers). University of Waterloo researchers will not collect or use internet protocol (IP) addresses or other information which could link your participation to your computer or electronic device without first informing you.
Study Sponsor: This study is funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities. The study sponsors will not have access to the data and will not know who participated or not.
Questions About the Research? If you have questions about the research in general or your role in the study, please feel free to contact Dr. Shane McIntosh by email (shane.mcintosh@uwaterloo.ca). This study has been reviewed and received ethics clearance through the University of Waterloo Research Ethics Committee (ORE#44388). If you have questions for the board, contact the Office of Research Ethics at 1-519-888-4567 ext. 36005 or reb@uwaterloo.ca.
