How to Measure Empathy in SE: Development and Validation of SE-Oriented Empathy Scale

The empathy scale development study focuses on addressing the need for tailored tools to measure empathy within SE contexts. Empathy plays a critical role in fostering collaboration and understanding among developers, stakeholders, and users, yet existing empathy scales from other domains may not fully capture the nuances of SE interactions. This study aims to develop and validate SE-oriented empathy scales for two distinct purposes: measuring developers' empathy towards other developers, stakeholders, and users, and measuring stakeholders' empathy towards other stakeholders, developers and users. These scales will provide a systematic way to assess and enhance empathetic behaviours, contributing to improved communication, collaboration, and outcomes in SE practices.

The study employs several data collection methods including surveys, expert interviews, and cognitive interviews with software practitioners. In the first phase, key constructs and dimensions of empathy relevant to SE contexts were identified using insights from existing literature and findings from a STGT study developing a theory of empathy in SE. A candidate pool of items for the SE-oriented empathy scales was then developed by refining items from existing empathy scales and creating new items tailored to the unique intricacies of the SE context. A survey was conducted to collect feedback from software practitioners, who were asked to rate the relevance of each candidate item for measuring empathy in SE based on their experience and the provided definition of empathy. Participants were also invited to edit items for clarity and simplicity, and suggest additional items they deemed important for an instrument designed to measure empathy in SE contexts. Based on this feedback, the candidate items were refined, and initial empathy scales were developed. Following scale development, the validation process involves multiple steps:
  • Expert interviews with 2-3 empathy experts or psychologists, cognitive interviews with 6-8 software practitioners, and a survey to collect quantitative data from a larger pool of software practitioners. The expert interviews will assess whether the scale statements effectively measure empathy and align with their intended content areas (e.g., cognitive and affective empathy).
  • Cognitive interviews will explore how practitioners interpret the scale's statements, focusing on their thought processes and the understandability of the items.
  • Finally, the quantitative survey will evaluate the scale's reliability, validity, and applicability in real-world SE scenarios, ensuring it effectively captures empathy in SE interactions.

By creating separate scales to measure developers' empathy towards colleagues, stakeholders, and users, as well as stakeholders' empathy towards developers and users, the research provides valuable tools for assessing empathy within SE teams and projects. These scales are expected to support future research and practical initiatives aimed at fostering empathy, improving communication, and enhancing outcomes in SE practices.

Project Lead

Hashini Gunatilake

Project Team

Prof John Grundy, Prof Rashina Hoda, Dr Ingo Mueller