From Data to Theory: A Qualitative Study of Pair Programming Expertise

Table of Links Abstract and I. Introduction Abstract and I. Introduction II. Related Work A. On the Existence of Pair Programming Skill A. On the Existence of Pair Programming Skill B. On the Elements of Pair Programming Skill B. On the Elements of Pair Programming Skill III. Research Method A. Research Goal and Data Collection A. Research Goal and Data Collection B. Qualitative Research Approach B. Qualitative Research Approach C. Our Notions of ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ C. Our Notions of ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ IV. Results A. Two Elements of Pair Programming Skill A. Two Elements of Pair Programming Skill B. Anti-Pattern: Getting Lost in the Weeds B. Anti-Pattern: Getting Lost in the Weeds C. Anti-Pattern: Losing the Partner C. Anti-Pattern: Losing the Partner D. Anti-Pattern: Drowning the Partner D. Anti-Pattern: Drowning the Partner E. Doing the Right Thing and F. Further Elements of Pair Programming Skill E. Doing the Right Thing and F. Further Elements of Pair Programming Skill V. Discussion V. Discussion VI. Summary and Future Work VI. Summary and Future Work VII. Data Availability and References VII. Data Availability and References B. Qualitative Research Approach We follow Strauss’ & Corbin’s Grounded Theory Methodology [9]. In particular, we perform theoretical sampling [9, Ch. 11] by choosing sessions from the repository with pair members who have been pair-programing regularly for years and those that are new to the practice, as well as involving experienced software developers and novices (see Table I). Below, we report our findings mostly from open coding [9, Ch. 5], where relevant phenomena in the data are identified, analyzed, and characterized through concepts, and some findings from axial coding [9, Ch. 7], which investigates when and how these phenomena occur and how the pair deals with them. We did not yet perform selective coding [9, Ch. 8] to formulate a theory and also did not yet reach theoretical saturation [9, p. 188]. theoretical sampling open coding axial coding theoretical saturation Authors: (1) Franz Zieris, Institut fur Informatik, Freie Universitat, Berlin Berlin, Germany (zieris@inf.fu-berlin.de); (2) Lutz Prechelt, Institut fur Informatik. Freie Universitat Berlin, Berlin, Germany (prechelt@inf.fu-berlin.de). Authors: Authors: (1) Franz Zieris, Institut fur Informatik, Freie Universitat, Berlin Berlin, Germany (zieris@inf.fu-berlin.de); (2) Lutz Prechelt, Institut fur Informatik. Freie Universitat Berlin, Berlin, Germany (prechelt@inf.fu-berlin.de). This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. available on arxiv available on arxiv