Software Engineering as Research Method: Aligning Roles in Econ-ARK
Mridul Seth
Video: https://youtu.be/nxXr0LNdQUU
Abstract
While general purpose scientific software has enjoyed
great success in industry and academia, domain specific
scientific software has not yet become well-established
in many disciplines where it has potential.
Based on a survey of the literature as well as
the authors' experiences contributing to Econ-ARK,
a structural modeling toolkit for Economics, we argue
that this is due to the well-documented skills gap
that prevents researchers, publishers, and professors
from making the most of the opportunities afforded by
scientific software.
When researchers professionalize their code,
it enables more cumulative progress in research
and facilitates technology transfer.
When publishers release interactive computational artifacts,
it enables constructionist learning of the material.
When students are trained in software engineering,
they can participate fully in the reproduction
of their scientific field.
This is especially the case for fields where scientific
knowledge is represented in software code, as in the
case of Economics.
The skills gap will not be closed until software engineering
is considered a core skill for the discipline.
Software engineering should be reconceived as a research
method.
computational method, computional thinking, constructionist learning, research software engineering
DOI10.25080/Majora-342d178e-015