Master Thesis Topic

Personality of Professional Software Engineers and How it Affects the Organization

Increasingly the importance of the humans involved in Software Engineering is recognized. No matter which tools, methods or techniques are used a key factor are the people that uses them. Thus it is very important to understand the personalities and motivations of the engineers themselves.

There are existing studies in this area but more data is needed. Also the psychometric instruments used need to be extended. This thesis aims to both include more and diverse psychometric instruments as well as collect more data to link the profiles of the engineers to their attitudes and preferences in their work.

Steps

The thesis project will involve

  1. a review of the existing studies on personalities of software engineers,
  2. an investigation of modern psychometric instruments,
  3. an evaluation of the set of most useful psychometric instruments for SE,
  4. designing and conducting a study based on the chosen instruments.

Prerequisites

Students interested in this topic should preferably have knowledge/experience/interest in:

  1. software engineering (some),
  2. psychology (optional),

Links / Input