The exploratory testing (ET) approach is commonly applied in industry, but lacks scientific research. The scientific community needs quantitative results on the performance of ET taken from realistic experimental settings. The objective of this paper is to quantify the effectiveness and efficiency of ET vs. testing with documented test cases (test case based testing, TCT). We performed four controlled experiments where a total of 24 practitioners and 46 students performed manual functional testing using ET and TCT. We measured the number of identified defects in the 90-minute testing sessions of testing, the detection difficulty, severity and types of the detected defects, and the number of false defect reports. The results show that ET found a significantly greater number of defects. ET also found significantly more defects of varying levels of difficulty, types and severity levels. The two testing approaches, however, did not differ significantly in terms of the number of false defect reports submitted. We conclude that ET was more efficient than TCT in our experiment. ET was also more effective than TCT when detection difficulty, type of defects and severity levels are considered. However, the two approaches are comparable when it comes to the number of false defect reports submitted.
Background: The need for empirical investigations in software engineering is growing. Many researchers nowadays, conduct and validate their solutions using empirical research. Survey is one empirical method which enables researchers to collect data from a large population. Main aim of the survey is to generalize the findings. Aims: In this study we aim to identify the problems researchers face during survey design, and mitigation strategies. Method: A literature review as well as semi-structured interviews with nine software engineering researchers were conducted to elicit their views on problems and mitigation strategies. The researchers are all focused on empirical software engineering. Results: We identified 24 problems and 65 strategies, structured according to the survey research process. The most commonly discussed problem was sampling, in particular the ability to obtain a sufficiently large sample. To improve survey instrument design, evaluation and execution recommendations for question formulation and survey pre-testing were given. The importance of involving multiple researchers in the analysis of survey results was stressed. Conclusions: The elicited problems and strategies may serve researchers during the design of their studies. However, it was observed that some strategies were conflicting. This shows that it is important to conduct a trade-off analysis between strategies.
Heterogeneous systems comprising sets of inherent subsystems are challenging to integrate. In particular, testing for interoperability and conformance is a challenge. Furthermore, the complexities of such systems amplify traditional testing challenges. We explore (1) which techniques are frequently discussed in literature in context of heterogeneous system testing that practitioners use to test their heterogeneous systems; (2) the perception of the practitioners on the usefulness of the techniques with respect to a defined set of outcome variables. For that, we conducted an exploratory survey. A total of 27 complete survey answers have been received. Search-based testing has been used by 14 out of 27 respondents, indicating the practical relevance of the approach for testing heterogeneous systems, which itself is relatively new and has only recently been studied extensively. The most frequently used technique is exploratory manual testing, followed by combinatorial testing. With respect to the perceived performance of the testing techniques, the practitioners were undecided regarding many of the studied variables. Manual exploratory testing received very positive ratings across outcome variables.
Abstract. During exploratory testing sessions the tester simultaneously learns, designs and executes tests. The activity is iterative and utilizes the skills of the tester and provides flexibility and creativity. Test charters are used as a vehicle to support the testers during the testing. The aim of this study is to support practitioners in the design of test charters through checklists. We aimed to identify factors allowing practitioners to critically reflect on their designs and contents of test charters to support practitioners in making informed decisions of what to include in test charters. The factors and contents have been elicited through interviews. Overall, 30 factors and 35 content elements have been elicited.
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