On Exploring Ways to Enhance Participation in Software Engineering Communities – Replication Package

Existing quantitative studies examining how diversity affects Stack Overflow contributions have only captured statistical trends, yet fail to explain how their findings resonate to the actual users’ experience. Qualitative investigation is essential to validate these findings. Our study synthesises existing research to yield 42 key outcomes, informing the development of 14 open-ended questions for Stack Overflow users related to participation, contribution utility and value, and quality. 209 responses were accrued that reflected how US-based users interact with the platform, where inductive thematic analysis was conducted to identify emergent themes. This replication package is provided for those interested in further examining our research methodology.