Behind the Scenes of a Pair Programming Experiment

Table of Links

Abstract and 1. Introduction

2. Experiment Definition

3. Experiment Design and Conduct

3.1 Latin Square Designs

3.2 Subjects, Tasks and Objects

3.3 Conduct

3.4 Measures

4. Data Analysis

4.1 Model Assumptions

4.2 Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)

4.3 Treatment Comparisons

4.4 Effect Size and Power Analysis

5. Experiment Limitations and 5.1 Threats to the Conclusion Validity

5.2 Threats to Internal Validity

5.3 Threats to Construct Validity

5.4 Threats to External Validity

6. Discussion and 6.1 Duration

6.2 Effort

7. Conclusions and Further Work, and References

3.3 Conduct

The allotted time for each session was 90 minutes. Both sessions were carried out in one of the computer classroom of the faculty. The first session started almost 30 minutes late because we were waiting for some students to arrive. Once students were complete, we started the session. We gave to subjects some directions and projected on the screen the specification of the program to be written (program calculator). Due to we did not start on time, some subjects did not complete the assignment, so we asked them to pause their work and record the time. Subjects that were working individually we asked them to finish the program at home. At the other hand, subjects that were working in pairs and did not complete the program, we programmed them an extra session on the next day. In this extra session all the remaining pairs completed the program.

The second session started on time; again, we gave to subjects some directions and projected on the screen the second specification (program encoder). In this session all the subjects finished on time. In both sessions programs were verified according to its specification.