an Invitation to be Involved in a Survey on Developing Scientific Computing Software

If you are involved in the development of scientific computing software, you are invited to participate in a survey on developing this kind of software. If you have already received this request, I apologize for the cross-posting, but I am attempting to advertise to as many developers as possible.

I would appreciate it if you could take 20-30 minutes to complete this questionnaire. If you know others involved in the development of scientific computing software, could you please forward this survey to them. Your assistance is highly appreciated.

There are 37 questions in the survey, which can be accessed via the following link:

The survey is for a research experiment conducted by myself, Jin Tang, a master student at the Department of Computing and Software, McMaster University, Canada, under the supervision of Dr. Spencer Smith. The result of this survey will help me with my research on the processes used to develop scientific computing software, where scientific computing is defined as the use of computer tools to analyze or simulate mathematical models of continuous real world system of engineering or scientific importance so that we can better understand and potentially predict the system's behaviour.

The short term goal of this survey is to find the processes that industry and academia follow to develop their scientific computing software. The mid term objective is to direct research on adapting software engineering methodologies to improve the quality of scientific computing software.

Questions in this survey are related to the process of developing scientific computing software. For example: What kind of libraries do you use to develop scientific computing software? In your current group, do you consider software reuse? What level of software reuse do you reach? What method(s) do you use for software validation and verification.

All questions are voluntary and you need only answer those questions that you wish to. If you agree to participate in the survey, you can change your mind and discontinue the survey at any time. This research will pose risks no greater than what you would experience in the course of your day-to-day work life.

If you are interested in this study, we are very happy to share our survey report with you. Please provide your email address in the survey, the survey report will be sent to you.

All your answers to the survey questions will be kept in Excel files, which will be completely confidential and only available to myself and Dr. Spencer Smith. If you have any questions, please contact Jin Tang or Dr. Spencer Smith. The following is our contact information.

Jin Tang Department of Computing and Software McMaster University

1280 Main Street West Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4K1 Phone: 905-525-9140 Ext. 27029 Email: snipped-for-privacy@mcmaster.ca

Spencer Smith, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Computing and Software McMaster University

1280 Main Street West Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4K1 Phone: 905-525-9140 Ext. 27929 Fax: 905-524-0340 Email: snipped-for-privacy@mcmaster.ca

This study has been reviewed and approved by the McMaster Research Ethics Board. If you have concerns or questions about your right as a participant or about the way the study is conducted, you may contact McMaster Research Ethics Board Secretariat at 905-525-9140 ext. 23142, email: snipped-for-privacy@mcmaster.ca. Thank you.

Sincerely, Jin Tang