Exploring Pair Programming Benefits for MIS Majors

Abstract

Pair programming is a collaborative programming practice that places participants in dyads, working in tandem at one computer to complete programming assignments. Pair programming studies with Computer Science (CS) and Software Engineering (SE) majors have identified benefits such as technical productivity, program/design quality, academic performance, and increased satisfaction for their participants. In this paper, pair programming is studied with Management Information Systems (MIS) majors, who (unlike CS and SE majors taking several programming courses) typically take only one programming course and often struggle to develop advanced programming skills within that single course. The researchers conducted two pair programming experiments in an introductory software development course for MIS majors over three semesters to determine if pair programming could enhance learning for MIS students. The program results, researchers' direct observations, and participants' responses to a survey questionnaire were analyzed after each experiment. The results indicate that pair programming appears to be beneficial to MIS students' technical productivity and program design quality, specifically the ability to create programs using high-level concepts. Additionally, results confirmed increased student satisfaction and reduced frustration, as the pairs worked collaboratively to produce a program while actively communicating and enjoying the process.

The Influence of Pair Programming on Secondary School Students’ Confidence and Achievement in Computer Programming

“…The results of the current study were consistent with the other limited number of studies in the literature, in that pair programming positively affected increased confidence in programming (Dongo et al, 2016;McChesney, 2016;McDowell et al, 2006;Williams & Upchurch, 2001). The main factors that increased the pair programmers' confidence in programming in the current study were solving problems easily, helping each other, sharing knowledge, correcting each other's mistakes, completing the activities quickly and to a good quality, increased learning, increased motivation, and working with a peer who had a higher programming ability.…”

“…The interview results showed a strong mutual interaction between the confidence and achievement levels of the students for programming. The students in this study reported that they could be successful by attentively listening to the first lesson and then reviewing at home; however, they mostly preferred to work in pairs because they considered the presence of a peer to increase their levels of confidence and achievement (Dongo et al, 2016;McChesney, 2016;McDowell et al, 2006;Williams & Upchurch, 2001). This suggests that pair programming can be beneficial for novice programmers in secondary schools to increase their confidence in learning programming during their programming education.…”

“…Relevant research studies on pair programming have mostly been conducted with adult learners. They have frequently compared individual programming and pair programming, and reported that pair programmers performed more effectively on one or more performance measures including successfully passing programming courses, obtaining higher grades, completing assignments, improving problem-solving and higher-order thinking skills, learning programming, understanding programming concepts, producing quality programs with correct codes and fewer errors, increasing productivity, and faster programming (DeClue, 2003;Dongo, Reed, & O'Hara, 2016;Isong et al, 2016;McChesney, 2016;McDowell, Werner, Bullock, & Fernald, 2006;Nagappan et al, 2003;Nančovska et al, 2008;Salge & Berente, 2016;Umapathy & Ritzhaupt, 2017;Williams & Upchurch, 2001;Williams et al, 2002). However, although pair programmers have been shown to perform better in assignments, there has been no significant difference identified in terms of their exam scores (Nagappan et al, 2003;Williams et al, 2002).…”

“…Collaborative interaction in pair programming can increase adults' confidence in programming (Dongo et al, 2016;McChesney, 2016;McDowell et al, 2006;Williams & Upchurch, 2001), and they can develop more positive feelings and experiences than individual programmers (Dongo et al, 2016;Isong et al, 2016;McChesney, 2016;McDowell et al, 2006;Williams & Upchurch, 2001). Working as pairs can increase effort and motivation (DeClue, 2003;Nagappan et al, 2003) and feel more satisfied having a partner with whom to solve problems through creative and efficient means (Williams & Upchurch, 2001).…”

A Comparison of Solo and Pair Programming in Terms of Flow Experience, Coding Quality, and Coding Achievement

“…Another result of this study is that the pair programming group produced more quality codes than the solo programming group. Many studies in the literature support the conclusion of this study regarding coding quality (Bipp et al., 2008; Cockburn & Williams, 2001; Dongo et al., 2016; Hannay et al., 2009; McDowell et al., 2002; Nawahdah & Taji, 2016; Tunga & Tokel, 2018). It is possible to explain this situation with the concept of confirmation bias.…”