Exploring issues in software systems used and developed by domain experts

Software engineering researchers have paid a good deal of attention to fault cause, discovery, and repair in software systems developed by software professionals. Yet, not all software is developed by software professionals, and consequently, not as much research has been conducted that explores fault cause, discovery, and repair in software systems developed by domain experts. In this exploratory paper, we outline research plans for studying the types of faults that domain experts encounter when developing software for their own research. To attain this goal we propose a multiple case study that will allow us to explore questions about domain expert software use, needs, and development.