Preprint submitted to Peer Community In - Registered Reports. Abstract: Open Source Software (OSS) projects are typically open to, and dependent on, volunteer contributions. This study examines how financial support – or the lack thereof – may influence contributions to OSS projects. It takes The Turing Way as a case study. The Turing Way is an open source book and community focused on best practices in inclusive and reproducible data science. The Turing Way presents a particularly interesting case: from its inception in 2019 until June 2025, it received institutional support from The Alan Turing Institute (UK). A broader range of individuals also contribute on a voluntary basis to both the community and the book, with over 500 acknowledged contributors in 2026. This study adopts a critical realist approach to examine whether financial compensation leads to differences in how contributors engage with The Turing Way. The distinction between paid and volunteer contributions is, however, often blurred within this community. To address this, the study first identifies how community members define ‘being (financially) compensated’ through an online survey. The survey findings will then be discussed with the community in an online focus group. Building on these insights, the study will conduct semi-structured interviews with community members across a continuum from ‘volunteer’ to ‘compensated’ to ‘financially compensated’, in order to generate rich, in-depth insights into contributors’ lived experiences using reflexive thematic analysis. The interviews will also explore the community dynamics that arise from these differing forms of engagement. Preliminary findings from the interviews will be shared and discussed with the community in a second online focus group. results/discussion summary placeholder The results may offer insights into potentially unwanted community dynamics to avoid within OSS ecosystems, as well as highlight best practices to foster. In doing so, the study contributes to ongoing discussions on how to ensure the long-term sustainability of OSS communities – a common challenge across such projects. This version has been updated after reviewer feedback.
Plomp et al. (Fri,) studied this question.