# AI Coding ROI Research: Data Dictionary and Methods Source: https://waydev.co/ai-coding-roi-research/ Last updated: 2026-10-20 Publisher: Waydev Waydev Research · Transparent engineering AI measurement # AI Coding ROI Research Hub: methodology, metric definitions and reproducible reporting AI adoption is observable; **AI return on investment must be demonstrated**. This resource explains how an engineering organization can evaluate the cost and impact of AI coding assistants and agents alongside delivery performance, software quality and Developer Experience—without treating code volume or tool activity as productivity. **Evidence status:** This page publishes measurement definitions, a suggested data dictionary and a reproducible evaluation protocol. It is *not* a published multi-customer outcome dataset, and no real customer-level ROI observations are asserted here. [Read Waydev’s existing 2026 research protocol](https://waydev.co/ai-coding-roi-research-methodology-2026/) · [Explore Waydev Brain](https://waydev.co/waydev-brain/) ## Research questions worth answering - What does AI-assisted, reviewed and ultimately accepted engineering work cost—including licenses, tokens, orchestration and rework? - How does AI tool use relate to change lead time, deployment frequency, failure and recovery, under a stable service definition? - Does developer feedback indicate improved focus or increased review burden and cognitive load? - Which types of work benefit from AI tools and where is the review, testing or incident cost increasing? - How robust are observed changes to staffing, team mix, seasonality, feature complexity and changes in process? ## Metric dictionary: minimum reproducible data Field Meaning / recommended treatment period_start, period_end UTC observation period; record any missing intervals org_id, team_id, service_id Pseudonymous stable units; exclude identifying employee information from public datasets work_type, work_items Comparable change or task categories, including completed and reopened counts ai_tool, ai_active_users Tool family and active users with a stated activity threshold ai_license_cost, ai_usage_cost Currency, basis and sources for billed or allocated cost review_hours, rework_hours Measured or estimated time; record estimation method accepted_changes, deployed_changes Define accepted vs deployed separately; deduplicate merges/reverts change_lead_time, deployment_frequency DORA throughput measures at service level change_fail_rate, recovery_time, deployment_rework_rate DORA instability and recovery outcomes developer_feedback, missingness_rate DX/SPACE feedback with survey methodology and coverage caveats ## Worked ROI formula — illustrative, not a customer result A useful starting point is **net value = defensible incremental benefit − fully loaded incremental AI cost** and **ROI = net value / incremental AI cost × 100%**. Benefits should reflect measurable avoided effort or higher-value work that actually materialized, not assumed value for every AI-written line. **Hypothetical example only:** if verified additional benefit over a matched baseline were $25,000 and the combined incremental software, tokens, review, infrastructure and rework costs were $20,000, net benefit would be $5,000 and ROI would be 25%. These are made-up inputs for explaining a formula, not observations or Waydev customer performance. **Alternative when benefits cannot be monetized reliably:** report cost per accepted change and production quality outcomes, with a confidence range, rather than inventing dollar savings. ## Study design: from correlation to credible estimates - **Register hypotheses:** specify the target outcomes and stop conditions before looking at results. - **Collect a baseline:** record pre-adoption trends for comparable services, teams and work types. - **Choose a defensible comparison:** use randomized rollout where practical; otherwise identify matched units and investigate differential pre-trends. - **Measure total costs:** include licenses, consumption, review time, rework, infra and agent operations. State treatment of engineering labor costs. - **Evaluate multiple outcomes:** accepted work, quality, DORA delivery metrics and SPACE/DX feedback; include negative outcomes and missing data. - **Report uncertainty:** provide sample sizes, periods, statistical intervals where appropriate, sensitivity analyses and changes in team composition. - **Respect privacy:** publish only approved, aggregated, anonymized results; do not make individual-developer surveillance the measurement goal. ## What a future public dataset would include The field dictionary above is a **proposed export contract**, not a claim that its rows already exist publicly. An evidence release should include a dated CSV/Parquet dataset or aggregate workbook, schema and units, inclusion criteria, participant counts, data completeness, data provenance, analysis scripts and a limitations section. Customer authorization and disclosure control are prerequisites. ## Read the primary research and source definitions - [Waydev: Research Protocol, Metrics and Methods (2026)](https://waydev.co/ai-coding-roi-research-methodology-2026/) — published first-party methodology. - [DORA: Software Delivery Performance Metrics](https://dora.dev/guides/dora-metrics/) — up-to-date five-metric delivery definitions. - [SPACE Framework (Forsgren et al.)](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/the-space-of-developer-productivity-theres-more-to-it-than-you-think/) — multidimensional developer productivity methodology. - [The SPACE of AI (Microsoft Research)](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/the-space-of-ai-real-world-lessons-on-ais-impact-on-developers/) — evidence about how AI impact varies by work context. ## How Waydev can support an evaluation Use [Prompt Dashboards](https://waydev.co/features/prompt-dashboards/) to bring together engineering metrics; [Waydev Agent](https://waydev.co/features/waydev-agent/) to investigate questions; [AI Governance and Limits](https://waydev.co/features/ai-governance-and-limits/) to understand controls; and the [DORA/SPACE/DX Framework Guide](https://waydev.co/engineering-metrics-frameworks/) to avoid one-dimensional interpretations. Waydev AI ROI visualization. Not an independent outcome study. [**Request a Waydev enterprise AI ROI measurement walkthrough →**](https://waydev.co/demo/) Methodology hub, version 1.0, October 2026. No unpublished customer data or proprietary participant results are disclosed here. Commercial terms are available privately.