Computer Science / Software Engineering
Education Relevance Survey

Version 1998d - May 14 1998

THIS IS AVAILABLE FOR HISTORICAL VIEWING ONLY. NO MORE DATA IS BEING COLLECTED. Results can be found here.

This questionnaire is designed to discover what aspects of your educational background have been useful to you in your career. The results of the survey will be used to help improve curricula. All the information you provide will be kept confidential. In particular, we have no intention of judging you as a person - we are merely interested in learning about the relevance of certain topics to your work.

If you don't understand a question, you may leave it blank or state an assumption. There is a field at the end where you can type any additional comments you may have.

Thank you

Dr. Timothy C. Lethbridge
School of Information Technology and Engineering,
150 Louis Pasteur,
University of Ottawa,
K1N 6N5
Canada

Telephone: 613 562-5800x6685
EMail: tcl@site.uottawa.ca
FAX: 613 562-5187


Questions about the relevance of educational material

This is the core of the survey...

Mathematics Topics

If you wish, you may use fractional numbers (e.g. 2.5, 4.5). The scales are described in detail with this question and abbreviated elsewhere.

How much did you learn about this in your formal education (e.g. University or College)?

0=Learned nothing at all
1=Became vaguely familiar
2=Leaned the basics
3=Became functional (moderate working knowledge)
4=Learned a lot
5=Learned in depth; became expert (Learned almost everything)

What is your current knowledge about this, considering what you have learned on the job as well as forgotten?

0=Know nothing
1=Am vaguely familiar
2=Know the basics
3=Am functional (moderate working knowledge)
4=Know a lot
5=Know in depth / am expert (Know almost everything)

How useful have the details of this specific material been to you in your career as a software developer or software manager? Please leave blank if you know little about the material.

0=Completely Useless
1=Almost never useful
2=Occasionally useful
3=Moderately useful, but perhaps only in certain activities
4=Very useful
5=Essential

How much influence has learning the material had on your thinking (i.e. your approach to problems and your general intellectual maturity), whether or not you have directly used the details of the material? Please consider influence on both your career and other aspects of your life. Please leave blank if you know little about the material.

0=No influence at all
1=Almost no influence
2=Occasional influence
3=Moderate influence in some activities
4=Significant influence in many activities
5=Profound influence on almost everything I do

Differential and Integral Calculus

Differential Equations

Linear Algebra and Matrices

Probability and Statistics

Predicate Logic

Set Theory

Graph Theory

Information Theory

Automata theory

Queuing theory

Combinatorics

Control Theory

Formal Languages

Laplace and Fourier Transforms

 

Learned in formal education?
0=nothing
3=moderate/functional
5=in depth/expert

Current knowledge?
0=nothing
3=moderate/functional
5=in depth/expert

How useful have details been?
0=useless
3=moderately useful
5=essential

Influence on general thinking?
0=no influence
3=moderate influence
5=profound influence

Software Topics

Use the same 0 - 5 scale as before

If you wish, you may use fractional numbers (e.g. 2.5, 4.5). The scales are described in detail in the mathematics section. and abbreviated elsewhere.

How much did you learn about this in your formal education?

0=nothing
3=moderate/functional
5=in depth/expert

What is your current knowledge about this?

0=nothing
3=moderate/functional
5=in depth/expert

How useful have details of the specific material been in your career?

0=useless
3=moderately useful
5=essential

How has learning the material influenced your thinking whether or not you have used the details?

0=no influence
3=moderate influence
5=profound influence

Data Structures

Software Architecture

Software Design and Patterns

File Management

Databases

Specific Programming Languages

Programming Language Theory

Parsing and Compiler Design

Performance Measurement and Analysis

Design of Algorithms

Computational Complexity and Algorithm Analysis

Computational Methods for Numerical Problems

 

Learned in formal education?
0=nothing
3=moderate/functional
5=in depth/expert

Current knowledge?
0=nothing
3=moderate/functional
5=in depth/expert

How useful have details been?
0=useless
3=moderately useful
5=essential

Influence on general thinking?
0=no influence
3=moderate influence
5=profound influence

Simulation

Artificial Intelligence

Pattern Recognition and Image Processing

Computer Graphics

Human Computer Interaction / User Interfaces

Information Retrieval

Security and Cryptography

Operating Systems

Systems Programming

Data Transmission and Networks

Parallel and Distributed Processing

Real-Time System Design

 

Learned in formal education?
0=nothing
3=moderate/functional
5=in depth/expert

Current knowledge?
0=nothing
3=moderate/functional
5=in depth/expert

How useful have details been?
0=useless
3=moderately useful
5=essential

Influence on general thinking?
0=no influence
3=moderate influence
5=profound influence

Project Management

Requirements Gathering and Analysis

Formal Specification Methods

Object Oriented Concepts and Technology

Analysis and Design Methods

Testing, Verification and Quality Assurance

Configuration and Release Management

Maintenance, Reengineering and Reverse Engineering

Software Metrics

Software Reliability and Fault Tolerance

Software Cost Estimation

Process standards (CMM / ISO 9000 etc)

 

Learned in formal education?
0=nothing
3=moderate/functional
5=in depth/expert

Current knowledge?
0=nothing
3=moderate/functional
5=in depth/expert

How useful have details been?
0=useless
3=moderately useful
5=essential

Influence on general thinking?
0=no influence
3=moderate influence
5=profound influence

Hardware / Computer Engineering Topics

Use the same 0 - 5 scale as before

If you wish, you may use fractional numbers (e.g. 2.5, 4.5). The scales are described in detail in the mathematics section. and abbreviated elsewhere.

How much did you learn about this in your formal education?

0=nothing
3=moderate/functional
5=in depth/expert

What is your current knowledge about this?

0=nothing
3=moderate/functional
5=in depth/expert

How useful have details of the specific material been in your career?

0=useless
3=moderately useful
5=essential

How has learning the material influenced your thinking whether or not you have used the details?

0=no influence
3=moderate influence
5=profound influence

Digital Electronics and Digital Logic

Microprocessor Architecture

Computer System Architecture

Network Architecture and Data Transmission

Telephony and Telecommunications

Analog Electronics

Robotics

Digital Signal Processing

VLSI

Data Acquisition

 

Learned in formal education?
0=nothing
3=moderate/functional
5=in depth/expert

Current knowledge?
0=nothing
3=moderate/functional
5=in depth/expert

How useful have details been?
0=useless
3=moderately useful
5=essential

Influence on general thinking?
0=no influence
3=moderate influence
5=profound influence

Non-Computing Material Typically Studied

Use the same 0 - 5 scale as before

If you wish, you may use fractional numbers (e.g. 2.5, 4.5). The scales are described in detail in the mathematics section. and abbreviated elsewhere.

How much did you learn about this in your formal education?

0=nothing
3=moderate/functional
5=in depth/expert

What is your current knowledge about this?

0=nothing
3=moderate/functional
5=in depth/expert

How useful have details of the specific material been in your career?

0=useless
3=moderately useful
5=essential

How has learning the material influenced your thinking whether or not you have used the details?

0=no influence
3=moderate influence
5=profound influence

Physics

Chemistry

Economics

Accounting

Marketing

Management

Entrepreneurship

Psychology

Philosophy

Technical Writing

Giving Presentations to an Audience

Leadership

Negotiation

Ethics and Professionalism

Second Language (Other than English as a Second Language)

 

Learned in formal education?
0=nothing
3=moderate/functional
5=in depth/expert

Current knowledge?
0=nothing
3=moderate/functional
5=in depth/expert

How useful have details been?
0=useless
3=moderately useful
5=essential

Influence on general thinking?
0=no influence
3=moderate influence
5=profound influence

Demographic Questions

These will help us find out if people with different types of background have different needs.

1.

Country where you work:

2.

State/Province where you work (if applicable):

3.

Highest degree earned:

4.

Year you obtained your highest degree:

5.

Topics of your degrees. If you have degrees in more than one topic, or have a double major, then please check more than one box:

Software Engineering
Computer Science
Information Systems
Computer Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Other Engineering
Other Science
Mathematics
Business
Other

6.

Country where you obtained your highest degree:

7.

Cumulative number of years working on computer software:

8.

Please indicate the approximate percentage of your total working time that you have spent on the following activities during the last year. Please include both time working in groups as well as alone:

 

a) Management or project management:

 

b) Requirements analysis or specification:

 

c) Software architecture and design:

 

d) Working with source code (writing code, understanding code etc.)

 

e) Testing software written by others

 

f) Installation, customer support etc.

9.

Please indicate the percentage of your total working time you have spent understanding or modifying software or documents written by others (i.e. performing maintenance as opposed to new development):

10.

Which of the following categories most accurately describes the team in which you most often work:

Small team: 1-7 people working on a small system (typically less than 10000 lines of code)
Medium team: 5-20 people working on a medium sized system (typically 8000 to 150000 lines of code)
Large team: 15 to 60 people working on a large and complex system (typically between 100000 and 2 million lines of code)
Very large team: Over 45 people working on an extremely large and complex system (typically more than 1.5 million lines of code)
(Question not answered)

11.

On which of the following types of software have you performed significant work over the last five years? You may select more than one category:

Real-time, embedded, systems or telecommunications software (in general, software that is developed as part of a larger system).
Management information software or other software for running the business (e.g. accounting, inventory etc.) that is being developed or tailored largely for in-house use.
Consumer or mass-market software (typically sold on the open-market in shrink-wrapped packages).
Application software produced for specialized markets that does not fit into the above categories.

12.

Which of the following most closely describes the industry in which you would consider your company to be primarily involved.

If you select one of the 'other' options on the right, please specify the industry here:

Development of consumer software.
Telecommunications, networking software development.
Engineering or scientific software development.
Financial software development.
Development of other application software for specialized markets.
Software consulting.
Other software, please specify at left.

 

Military.
Other government, including government agencies, law enforcement, local.
Banking, finance, insurance, financial services or consulting etc.
Telecommunications or networking equipment manufacturing.
Manufacturing other computer hardware/peripherals, computer engineering.
Telecommunications or networking service.
Aeronautics, space, defense contracting.
Other engineering or manufacturing, please specify at left.
Education (schools, universities etc.).
Law, legal services.
Health care.
Retailing, marketing, distributing etc.
Broadcasting, publishing etc.
Other service industry, please specify at left.
Non-profit association.
Other, please specify at left.

Identification Questions (Optional)

Your answers to these 3 questions will allow us to contact you with follow-up questions if we need clarifications, and also to notify you about the results.

13.

Name:

14.

Email Address:

15.

Phone:

Open Ended Question

 

If there are any comments you have about this survey, please write them here:

 

Once again, thank-you for participating! You can contact us for the results near the end of 1998.