一句话：四年1361名学生研究表明，OSS4SG与一般OSS在项目选择、动机和PR接受率上存在差异，轻量干预可提升OSS4SG贡献。
现代软件工程日益依赖开源软件，但新开发者尤其是学生如何选择并贡献 OSS 项目仍缺乏理解。本文开展四年研究，覆盖 1361 名学生，追踪从项目选择到 pull request 接受的贡献生命周期，并实施轻量级干预以提升对社会公益开源项目（OSS4SG）的认知。作者结合定量与定性方法分析学生体验报告和提交的 pull request。结果显示：与一般 OSS 相比，OSS4SG 的项目选择（p<0.0001，效应量=0.84）和动机（p<0.01，效应量=0.13）存在显著差异，PR 接受率更高；干预与 OSS4SG 贡献增加相关（p<0.0001，效应量=0.38）。研究还分析性别、合作等因素的相关性，为改进 OSS4SG 体验与贡献质量提供启示。
Modern software engineering practice and training increasingly rely on Open Source Software (OSS). The recent growth in demand for professional software engineers has led to increased contributions to, and usage of, OSS. However, there is limited understanding of the factors affecting how developers, and how new or student developers in particular, decide which OSS projects to contribute to, a process critical to OSS sustainability, access, adoption, and growth. To better understand OSS contributions from the developers of tomorrow, we conducted a four-year study with 1,361 students investigating the life cycle of their contributions (from project selection to pull request acceptance). During the study, we also delivered a lightweight intervention to promote the awareness of open source projects for social good (OSS4SG), OSS projects that have positive impacts in other domains. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, we analyze student experience reports and the pull requests they submit. Compared to general OSS projects, we find significant differences in project selection (𝑝 < 0.0001, effect size = 0.84), student motivation (𝑝 < 0.01, effect size = 0.13), and increased pull-request acceptance rates for OSS4SG contributions. We also find that our intervention correlates with increased student contributions to OSS4SG (𝑝 < 0.0001, effect size = 0.38). Finally, we analyze correlations of factors such as gender or working with a partner. Our findings may help improve the experience for new developers participating in OSS4SG and the quality of their contributions. We also hope our work helps educators, project leaders, and contributors to build a mutually-beneficial framework for the future growth of OSS4SG.
@inproceedings{FangE0FWL023,
title = {A Four-Year Study of Student Contributions to OSS vs. OSS4SG with a Lightweight Intervention},
author = {Zihan Fang and Madeline Endres and Thomas Zimmermann and Denae Ford and Westley Weimer and Kevin Leach and Yu Huang},
booktitle = {FSE},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.1145/3611643.3616250}
}