Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Gamifying user feedback collection on static program analysis tools

Dahlbo, Emma ; Lundmark, Essie ; Söderberg, Emma LU orcid ; Eneroth, Lisa ; Höst, Martin and Borg, Markus LU (2025)
Abstract
Use of static program analysis tools can be highly beneficial in software development, but usage is hindered by usability issues. One method to better understand these issues is to gather user feedback, but it is challenging to get developers to invest effort in giving user feedback.

In this paper, we investigate whether gamification can increase user engagement in feedback collection on static analysis tools. To this end, we carried out a mixed-method study at a large software company, with initial user research, design of a feedback system with a context-sensitive gamification, deployment of the system to 900 developers over 14 days in an experiment with randomized assignment, and a final collection of qualitative user... (More)
Use of static program analysis tools can be highly beneficial in software development, but usage is hindered by usability issues. One method to better understand these issues is to gather user feedback, but it is challenging to get developers to invest effort in giving user feedback.

In this paper, we investigate whether gamification can increase user engagement in feedback collection on static analysis tools. To this end, we carried out a mixed-method study at a large software company, with initial user research, design of a feedback system with a context-sensitive gamification, deployment of the system to 900 developers over 14 days in an experiment with randomized assignment, and a final collection of qualitative user input.

We found that user engagement increased for the gamification group in terms of amount of feedback (2.47 times more feedback), but the difference is not statistically significant, and participants also expressed a mix of enthusiasm and skepticism in our follow-up interviews. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
host publication
Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Gamification in Software Development, Verification, and Validation (Gamify2025)
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a3b71af9-1edd-43d4-aaa3-27f9d15176e3
date added to LUP
2025-03-18 10:02:13
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:51:29
@inproceedings{a3b71af9-1edd-43d4-aaa3-27f9d15176e3,
  abstract     = {{Use of static program analysis tools can be highly beneficial in software development, but usage is hindered by usability issues. One method to better understand these issues is to gather user feedback, but it is challenging to get developers to invest effort in giving user feedback.<br/><br/>In this paper, we investigate whether gamification can increase user engagement in feedback collection on static analysis tools. To this end, we carried out a mixed-method study at a large software company, with initial user research, design of a feedback system with a context-sensitive gamification, deployment of the system to 900 developers over 14 days in an experiment with randomized assignment, and a final collection of qualitative user input.<br/><br/>We found that user engagement increased for the gamification group in terms of amount of feedback (2.47 times more feedback), but the difference is not statistically significant, and participants also expressed a mix of enthusiasm and skepticism in our follow-up interviews.}},
  author       = {{Dahlbo, Emma and Lundmark, Essie and Söderberg, Emma and Eneroth, Lisa and Höst, Martin and Borg, Markus}},
  booktitle    = {{Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Gamification in Software Development, Verification, and Validation (Gamify2025)}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  title        = {{Gamifying user feedback collection on static program analysis tools}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}