This dataset consists of two files that contains the interview protocols and codebook generated during the research for the “Co-creation in Fully Remote Software Teams” paper. This paper is available here.

The interview-based study consisted of a first round of interviews with 25 software professionals with a subsequent follow-up interview with 5 of these original participants. The interview transcripts were coded inductively resulting in the final code book shared here.

The goal of the study was to better understand how fully remote software teams co-create artifacts given that remote teams are dependent on artifacts such as documents to clarify their shared understanding on aspects such as product features and design.

The dataset is provided to supplement the paper’s study design section and also to aid other researchers who may be interested in repeating or running a similar study.

Study design

The Study Design section of the related paper provides the context to the data files. The Study Design section describes the participants involved in the study including their demographics, the interview process and data collection, the data analysis, and ethics. The data analysis section describes the generation and use of the provided codebook to support the overarching thematic analysis that took place.

The participants involved in the study all worked in software teams in some capacity (e.g., developer, project manager). The participants also worked in fully remote software teams. That is, in a group of people who work together on a project or product while being dispersed across different geographical locations; no team members are co-located.

It is recommended to read the related paper to better understand the full context of the study before using the provided data files.

Description of the data and file structure

The dataset consists of two files. The PDF file contains the interview protocols for both the first and second round of interviews. The spreadsheet contains the codebook.

The interview protocol file provides detailed information on running the two types of interviews used in the study. This information includes details about the types of participants suitable for the interview, the use of video conferencing software to host and record the interview along with the interview questions to be used. The interview may need to be adapted from this protocol depending on any additional ethical considerations related to the researcher’s institution, the number of interviewers, video conferencing software and transcription software used.

The codebook file was generated through the course of the data analysis phase. It consists of an overarching theme and then codes and sub-codes. Each sub-code is described with a description of the sub-code, some guidance on when to use that code (include), guidance on when not to use that code (exclude) and an example of code usage.

Sharing/Access information

Data was derived from the following sources:

• The design of the interview study
• Subsequent data analysis of the transcripts

The dataset is licensed under a CC 1.0 Universal (CC 1.0) Public Domain Dedication license.

Versioning

The data files were generated alongside the research paper. New versions are created automatically by Dryad whenever changes are made to the README or underlying data files. The history of changes are shown below.

The research is completed so it is not expected changes will be made in the future.

• Jan 21, 2024 - Updated the README file with licence and versioning information
• Jan 12, 2024 - Minor enhancements to both data files further improve the legibility
• Jan 09, 2024 - Interview protocol updated with further guidance on running the interview. Codebook updated with typos corrected and consistency in describing the usage of the sub-codes.
• Sep 06, 2023 - Initial dataset created and published on Dryad