How Do Software Professionals Distinguish AI-Assisted Programming from Programming Without AI Assistance?
AI-assisted programming is becoming increasingly common, but not every programming activity fits neatly into a single category.
Developers may plan solutions, write code, debug problems, review suggestions, test implementations, or revise existing programs. Some of these activities may be performed with AI assistance, while others may be performed without it.
This raises an important research question:
How representative are different programming activities of programming performed with AI assistance compared with programming performed without AI assistance?
Researchers at Utah State University's School of Computing are conducting a study to better understand how software professionals evaluate this distinction.
Why software professionals' perspectives matter
Programming practices differ across professional roles, technologies, projects, and workplaces. A programming activity that one developer strongly associates with AI-assisted work may be viewed differently by another developer.
Gathering ratings from software professionals can help researchers develop a more carefully calibrated understanding of how programming activities are perceived across AI-assisted and non-AI-assisted settings.
What does participation involve?
Participants will complete a short online calibration survey.
During the survey, participants will rate programming activities according to how representative they are of:
- Programming performed with AI assistance
- Programming performed without AI assistance
The survey takes approximately 10 minutes.
Who is invited?
We are inviting software professionals who are at least 18 years of age and are residents of the United States to participate.
The informed consent form presented at the beginning of the survey contains the complete participation information. Please review it before deciding whether to continue.
Participation is voluntary
Participation is entirely voluntary.
You may discontinue participation at any time before submitting your responses without penalty or consequence. Your decision to participate or not participate will have no effect on your grades, employment, or academic standing.
Participate in the study
Review the informed consent form and access the survey here:
👉 Take the Survey
Research team
Principal Investigator
Dr. John Edwards
Utah State University, School of Computing
john.edwards@usu.edu
Student Researcher
Rubash Mali
Utah State University, School of Computing
rubash.mali@usu.edu
This study has been reviewed and approved by the Utah State University Institutional Review Board: IRB #16067.
Thank you for considering contributing your professional perspective to this research.
Top comments (0)