Editing Research:Question-46-Experimental-Design-Human-AI-Collaboration (section)

=== Experimental Design Taxonomy ===

The research develops a comprehensive taxonomy of experimental design approaches optimized for different research objectives:

'''Controlled Micro-Studies (High Control, Low Context):'''
* '''Purpose:''' Testing specific hypotheses about human-AI interaction mechanisms
* '''Duration:''' Hours to days
* '''Participants:''' Individual developers or small teams
* '''Control Level:''' High experimental control with standardized tasks and environments
* '''Strengths:''' Clear causal inference, reproducibility, hypothesis testing
* '''Limitations:''' Limited ecological validity, narrow scope, potential artificiality

'''Naturalistic Field Experiments (Medium Control, High Context):'''
* '''Purpose:''' Testing collaboration approaches in realistic development environments
* '''Duration:''' Weeks to months
* '''Participants:''' Real development teams working on actual projects
* '''Control Level:''' Moderate control with standardized measurements but natural work contexts
* '''Strengths:''' Ecological validity, practical relevance, contextual richness
* '''Limitations:''' Reduced causal inference, confounding variables, measurement complexity

'''Longitudinal Cohort Studies (Low Control, High Temporal Depth):'''
* '''Purpose:''' Understanding collaboration evolution and long-term sustainability patterns
* '''Duration:''' Months to years
* '''Participants:''' Multiple teams or organizations tracked over extended periods
* '''Control Level:''' Minimal experimental control with comprehensive observational measurement
* '''Strengths:''' Temporal dynamics, sustainability assessment, pattern identification
* '''Limitations:''' Limited causal inference, confounding effects, resource intensive

'''Mixed-Reality Simulations (High Control, Medium Context):'''
* '''Purpose:''' Testing collaboration scenarios with controlled complexity variation
* '''Duration:''' Days to weeks
* '''Participants:''' Teams working on realistic but simulated development challenges
* '''Control Level:''' High control over scenario characteristics with realistic task complexity
* '''Strengths:''' Controlled complexity manipulation, scenario replication, safety for testing extreme conditions
* '''Limitations:''' Simulation validity concerns, potential artificiality, resource requirements