an Invitation to be Involved in a Survey on DevelopingScientific

["J. Tang" <tangj29 at univmail dot cis dot mcmaster dot ca>]

Dear Participant:

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:
http://www.eSurveysPro.com/Survey.aspx?id=b67ce1c1-84c2-4c2b-b66d-70db013d8038

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: tangj29@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: smiths@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: ethicsoffice@mcmaster.ca. Thank you.


Sincerely,
Jin Tang