Open Source Study Results

The file results.csv in this repository contains the coded and anonymized survey results from https://opensource.study. This readme documents the columns and the meaning of the data inside them below.

Columns

Below is a description of each column name and what the contents of those columns means. Square brackets ([]) after the name means the question allowed multiple answers and the results may contain strings separated by spaces indicating multiple choices were made. An asterisk (*) after the name means the question was required.

communication_change

Is there anything you would change about the current project communication methods?

Answer Choice	Meaning
centralize	Communication currently occurs across too many platforms and the project would like to use fewer
something-tbd	Communication currently feels out of hand, but no specific methods have been considered to resolve this

communication_methods[]*

Through what official means do maintainers, contributors, and users communicate about the project?

Answer Choice	Meaning
announcement-list	Mailing list for announcements
chat	Chat platform
discussion-list	Mailing list for discussion
email	Email directly to or from maintainers
forum	Forums like Discourse or Stack Exchange
office-hours	Regularly held office hours
social	Social media
tracker	Public bug or issue tracker
website	Project website
wiki	Project specific wiki

communication_topics[]*

What topics are communicated via the selected communication methods?

Answer Choice	Meaning
bug-reports	Bug reports
cve-announcements	Vulnerability announcements
docs	Documentation
feature-requests	Feature requests
funding-requests	Funding requests
labor-requests	Requests for labor
open-finances	Project finances
release-announcements	Release announcements
roadmap	Project roadmap
support	Help and support

funding_past_change

Why did the funding method change?

Answer Choice	Meaning
limited-time-funding	A previous method of funding was for a set period of time
sponsorship-ended	A sponsorship deal ended

funding_current[]*

How is the project currently funded?

Answer Choice	Meaning
collective-funding	Collective donations from individuals on GitHub Sponsors, Open Collective, Patreon, etc.
collective-sponsor-funding	Collective donations from organizations on GitHub Sponsors, Open Collective, Patreon, etc.
gov-grant-funding	Government grants
internal-funding	Directly as an internal project of a legal entity
nonprofit-grant-funding	Grants from grantmaking non-profit institutions
revenue-other-funding	Generating revenue by selling other things, like project T-shirts and stickers
revenue-product-funding	Revenue-generating products, like a pro version with additional functionality
revenue-support-funding	Revenue-generating activities, like paid support or consulting
self-funding	Self-funded by core contributor(s)
sponsor-funding	Sponsored directly by a for-profit entity

funding_current_change

Is there anything you would change about the current funding methods?

Answer Choice	Meaning
grants-too-little	Grants do not provide enough funding for stability
less-feast-or-famine	Funding is often available, but inconsistent
more-from-large-users	Large users are seen as free-riders

funding_management*

How are funds and expenses managed?

Answer Choice	Meaning
monarchy	A single person makes all decisions
oligarchy	A handful of people make joint decisions
participatory	Collective decision-making by many people
none	Not applicable

funding_past

What other funding has the project used in the past, if any?

Answer Choice	Meaning
collective-funding	Collective donations from individuals on GitHub Sponsors, Open Collective, Patreon, etc.
collective-sponsor-funding	Collective donations from organizations on GitHub Sponsors, Open Collective, Patreon, etc.
gov-grant-funding	Government grants
internal-funding	Directly as an internal project of a legal entity
nonprofit-grant-funding	Grants from grantmaking non-profit institutions
revenue-other-funding	Generating revenue by selling other things, like project T-shirts and stickers
revenue-product-funding	Revenue-generating products, like a pro version with additional functionality
revenue-support-funding	Revenue-generating activities, like paid support or consulting
self-funding	Self-funded by core contributor(s)
sponsor-funding	Sponsored directly by a for-profit entity

funding_purposes[]*

How are funds currently used?

Answer Choice	Meaning
bug-bounties	Bug bounties
feature-bounties	Feature bounties
full-time-pay	Full-time pay for one or more people
infrastructure	Infrastructure costs
part-time-pay	Part-time pay for one or more people
professional-services	Professional services (legal, accounting, marketing, etc.)
none	Not applicable

funding_purposes_change

Is there anything you would change about how funds are currently used?

Answer Choice	Meaning
fund-contributors	Project would like to provide some amount of funding to maintainers and contributors

governance_change

Is there anything you would like to change about how the project is currently governed?

Answer Choice	Meaning
add-formal-leadership-structure	Formalize who maintainers actually are
better-documented-process	Provide written guidance on how the project is governed
expand-decision-making	Allow more people to help in decision making
introduce-proposals-process	Create a formal process for proposing project changes

governance_contributors*

Roughly how many people have contributed labor to the project in the past year?

Answer Choice	Meaning
1	This is a solo project
2-10	A small group worked on this project
11-50	A medium sized group worked on this project
51+	This is a large project

governance_contributors_decisions*

How many of these contributors participate in project decision-making processes?

Answer Choice	Meaning
some	A small portion of them
half	About half of them
most	Most of them
all	All of them

governance_disagreements

How are disagreements resolved between contributors, maintainers, and/or other participants in collective decision-making processes?

Answer Choice	Meaning
bdfl	A specific individual has final say
consensus	Consensus must be reached
committee	Committees settle disagreements
majority	Majority rule

governance_method*

How is the project governed?

Answer Choice	Meaning
monarchy	A single person makes all decisions
oligarchy	A handful of people make joint decisions
participatory	Collective decision-making by many people

governance_new_decision_makers

What, if any, is the process for becoming someone who may help make decisions for the project?

Answer Choice	Meaning
company-internal	Must be hired by the project's backing organization to become a decision maker
election	Elected by existing decision makers
fully-participatory	All contributors and users are already welcome to help make decisions
invitation	Existing decision makers will offer invitations to specific contributors
not-possible	Governance will not be expanded
pay-to-play	Sponsors making large enough investments may influence the roadmap

legal_current*

What is the project's current legal status?

Answer Choice	Meaning
collective	Project assets owned by various core contributors
corporate-core-project	A core project of a for-profit entity, like WordPress
corporate-noncore-project	A non-core project of a for-profit entity, like React
education	A university project, like OpenStax
government	A government project, like the U.S. Web Design System
individual	Project assets owned by an individual
nonprofit	Independent nonprofit primarily created for the project
nonprofit-nontech-project	Project of an otherwise non-technology focused nonprofit
nonprofit-subsidiary	Governed under a larger nonprofit, like projects under the Linux Foundation

legal_current_change

Is there anything you would like to change about the current legal status of the project?

Answer Choice	Meaning
become-nonprofit	Create an independent nonprofit for the project
fiscal-or-governance	Change the legal status to one that provides more funding opportunities and/or better collective governance
transfer-ownership	Place maintenance and ownership of any existing infrastructure under a new owner

legal_current_reason

What decision making process, if any, led to the project taking on its current legal status?

Answer Choice	Meaning
ecosystem	Similar and related projects are structured this way
funding-requirement	Required to achieve a specific type of funding
historical	The project or maintainers have always used their current structure
values	Decision makers wanted to align the legal status with their values

legal_past

What other legal status has the project had in the past, if any?

Answer Choice	Meaning
collective	Project assets owned by various core contributors
corporate-core-project	A core project of a for-profit entity, like WordPress
corporate-noncore-project	A non-core project of a for-profit entity, like React
education	A university project, like OpenStax
government	A government project, like the U.S. Web Design System
individual	Project assets owned by an individual
nonprofit	Independent nonprofit primarily created for the project
nonprofit-nontech-project	Project of an otherwise non-technology focused nonprofit
nonprofit-subsidiary	Governed under a larger nonprofit, like projects under the Linux Foundation

legal_past_reason

Why did the legal status change?

Answer Choice	Meaning
for-fundraising	Changing the legal status allowed for new fundraising opportunities
transfered-ownership	Ownership of project assets and infrastructure changed

licenses_current_change

Is there anything you would like to change about the current license of the project?

Answer Choice	Meaning
anti-corporate	Use a license less friendly to businesses
better-fit	Find a license that is more appropriate for the project's goals
dual-license	Offer the code under multiple licenses depending on the type of end user
forced-pay	Adopt a license that requires heavier users to pay for use
no-evil	Use something that restricts use on values, like the Hippocratic License

licenses_current_reason

What decision making process, if any, led to the project taking on its current license?

Answer Choice	Meaning
community-governance	Community decision by similar or interrelated projects
fiscal	Financially driven decision
formal-governance	Formal decision by maintainers and contributors
hobby	The license choice needed to be friendly to a hobby project

licenses_current[]*

What software license does the project currently use?

The values in this column are all lowercase versions of SPDX license identifiers.

licenses_enforcement[]*

How is the license enforced?

Answer Choice	Meaning
contributor-licensing	Licensing agreements with contributors
litigation	Litigation
user-licensing	Licensing agreements with users
voluntary	Voluntary

licenses_past_change_reason

Why is this license no longer used?

Answer Choice	Meaning
funding	Funding was easier under a different license
less-restrictive	A less restrictive license was desired
more-restrictive	A more restrictive license was desired

licenses_past[]

What other licenses has the project used in the past, if any?

The values in this column are all lowercase versions of SPDX license identifiers.

project_age*

About how long has the project been active, in years?

The values in this column are an integer number of years with a minimum of 1.

project_type*

How would you categorize the project’s intended users?

Answer Choice	Meaning
P	End-users
L	Software developers
PL	Both