Diversity and inclusion are necessary prerequisites for shaping technological innovation that benefits society as a whole. A common indicator of diversity consideration is the representation of different social groups among software engineering (SE) researchers, developers, and students. However, this does not necessarily entail that diversity is considered in the SE research itself. In our study, we examine how diversity is embedded in SE research, particularly research that involves participant studies. To this end, we have selected 79 research papers containing 105 participant studies spanning three years of ICSE technical tracks. Using a content analytical approach, we identified how SE researchers report the various diversity categories of their study participants and investigated: 1) the extent to which participants are described, 2) what diversity categories are commonly reported, and 3) the function diversity serves in the SE studies. We identified 12 different diversity categories reported in SE participant studies. Our results demonstrate that even though most SE studies report on the diversity of participants, SE research often emphasizes professional diversity data, such as occupation and work experience, over social diversity data, such as gender or location of the participants. Furthermore, our results show that participant diversity is seldom analyzed or reflected upon when SE researchers discuss their study results, outcome or limitations. To help researchers self-assess their study diversity awareness, we propose a diversity awareness model and guidelines that SE researchers can apply to their research. With this study, we hope to shed light on a new approach to tackling the diversity and inclusion crisis in the SE field.

翻译：多样性与包容性是塑造惠及全社会的技术创新的必要前提。多样性考量的常见指标体现在软件工程研究人员、开发者及学生群体中不同社会群体的代表性。然而，这并不必然意味着多样性已融入软件工程研究本身。本研究旨在探讨多样性如何嵌入软件工程研究，特别是涉及参与者调查研究。为此，我们从三年期ICSE技术轨道中选取了79篇包含105项参与者研究的论文。采用内容分析方法，我们识别了软件工程研究者报告其研究参与者多样性类别的具体方式，并探究了：1）参与者描述的详尽程度，2）常见的多样性报告类别，3）多样性在软件工程研究中的功能定位。在软件工程参与者研究中，我们共识别出12种不同的多样性类别。结果表明，尽管多数软件工程研究会报告参与者多样性数据，但相较于社会多样性数据（如性别或地理位置），研究者更倾向于强调职业多样性数据（如职业背景与工作经验）。此外，研究显示当软件工程研究者讨论研究结果、成果或局限性时，参与者多样性很少被纳入分析或反思。为帮助研究者进行研究多样性意识的自我评估，我们提出了适用于软件工程领域的多样性意识模型及指导原则。通过本研究，我们期望为应对软件工程领域的多样性与包容性危机提供新的解决路径。