Psychological Aspects of Pair Programming: A Mixed-methods Experimental Study

Abstract

With the recent advent of artificially intelligent pairing partners in software engineering, it is interesting to renew the study of the psychology of pairing. Pair programming provides an attractive way of teaching software engineering to university students. Its study can also lead to a better understanding of the needs of professional software engineers in various programming roles and for the improvement of the concurrent pairing software. [Objective] This preliminary study aimed to gain quantitative and qualitative insights into pair programming, especially students’ attitudes towards its specific roles and what they require from the pairing partners. The research's goal is to use the findings to design further studies on pairing with artificial intelligence. [Method] Using a mixed-methods and experimental approach, we distinguished the effects of the pilot, navigator, and solo roles on (N = 35) students’ intrinsic motivation. Four experimental sessions produced a rich data corpus in two software engineering university classrooms. It was quantitatively investigated using the Shapiro-Wilk normality test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to confirm the relations and significance of variations in mean intrinsic motivation in different roles. Consequently, seven semi-structured interviews were conducted with the experiment's participants. The qualitative data excerpts were subjected to the thematic analysis method in an essentialist way. [Results] The systematic coding interview transcripts elucidated the research topic by producing seven themes for understanding the psychological aspects of pair programming and for its improvement in university classrooms. Statistical analysis of 612 self-reported intrinsic motivation inventories confirmed that students find programming in pilot-navigator roles more interesting and enjoyable than programming simultaneously. [Conclusion] The executed experimental settings are viable for inspecting the associations between students’ attitudes and the distributed cognition practice. The preliminary results illuminate the psychological aspects of the pilot-navigator roles and reveal many areas for improvement. The results also provide a strong basis for conducting further studies with the same design involving the big five personality and intrinsic motivation on using artificial intelligence in pairing and to allow comparison of those results with results of pairing with human partners.