# HG changeset patch # User luisf # Date 1316698517 -3600 # Node ID 84ad0fe932042c4ef4d998e9a15a8839a8234776 # Parent 307c07c337ce9d5995d63fb88343f1afbdaf8104 survey results (work in progress) diff -r 307c07c337ce -r 84ad0fe93204 survey_appendix.tex --- a/survey_appendix.tex Thu Sep 22 12:33:50 2011 +0100 +++ b/survey_appendix.tex Thu Sep 22 14:35:17 2011 +0100 @@ -1,7 +1,72 @@ +In October 2010 we opened an online survey, advertised to a +number of senior researchers in other groups around the UK. This +survey asked for detailed information about the software usage and authorship practices of +researchers, with the aim of obtaining a number of individual case +points for further examination as well as some broad numerical +results. The survey, started in November 2010, closed in April 2011, +with 54 complete and 23 partially complete responses. There were +responses from at least 16 different institutions. + + +\subsection{Software Development} + +Our survey shows that 66,6\% of researchers use more than one OS. Linux isn’t +used as a single operating system by anybody, which seems to indicate +that most Linux users use it for multi-platform developing or for +specific software needs. SuperCollider, Android SDK/NDK, NET, PRAAT (Speech Researcher), CUDA-C +(GPU Programming), Clojure, Presentation, R. + +Most researchers (56\%) use version control. This kind of system is +more widely used by PHD students and Postdocs/Research +Assistants. When asked for what kind of technologies were used, SVN +(14) and GIT (7) were the most popular systems. CVS (5) and Mercurial +(4) were the other available options. Many users use more than one of +these systems simultaneously. + +When asked for the usage of code hosting services, 52\% of the researchers +said their code stayed in their computers. The most used third-party +source code hosting services is SourceForge (6 users). 10 users are +using university source code version control tools. \textit{remove + numbers, only leave percentages} + +27 users do not produce or maintain software. 16 do, while 11 did not +answer. \textit{percentages\ldots} + +Most users (57\%) do not plan to make any software available. + +When asked “Do you develop any software that you do not intend to +publish?”, 52\% of the users answered no. Possible commercial use is +the main justification given for not publishing the software at this +point. + +\subsection{Reproducible Research} + +Most researchers (56\%) acknowledge they don't take the necessary +steps to ensure sustainable and reproducible research. Many do not +understand the concept of reproducible research. By analyzing this +accordingly to the current position, we can see that PhD students are +the ones that are less aware of the importance of reproducible +research (even the ones that are almost finishing their PhD). + +Many of the researchers that ensure they do the steps necessary to +reproducibility say they only give the code and/or data to interested +researchers. Some researchers also say that they publish their code in +their own pages. At the same time, there are indications that this +procedure can lead to unsustainability itself. Many researchers +complain about the amount of time and/or complexity of making research +reproducible. Also many of them make only parts of their work +available. Some researchers also complain about copyright issues in +releasing data. + +Many researchers do not understand the full concept of +reproducibility. Some assume that explaining the algorithm and the +tools used is enough for other researchers to be able to reproduce +their results. Finally, some typical (but not widely admitted) answers +justify the decision not to embrace reproducibility due to messy code +or code/data protection: + %%% Local Variables: %%% mode: latex %%% TeX-master: "cannam" %%% End: - -This is the appendix. \ No newline at end of file