Testing the tester-adopting and adapting HCI techniques to analyse and develop software testing pattern

Abstract

Exploratory software testing is an activity which can be carried out by both untrained and formally trained testers. In this project, Human Computer Interaction (HCI) techniques are proposed to carry out a study of exploratory testing strategies used and bugs found by the two groups of testers. The untrained tester group consists of testers with no technical background in the field of testing, this persona will be ref erred to as "Carmen". The other group consists of experienced and qualified testers and this persona is being referred to as "George". Participants who accepted to participate in the study were asked to exploratory test an e-commerce system in any way they deemed fit, with the main aim of finding as many bugs as possible. The aim of the project is to generate data in order to compare the behaviour across both groups, which will be used to make recommendations to companies with regards to the mix of skills and training required for testing teams. Clear differences in strengths and weaknesses between the two testing groups emerged. It was noted that the different personas were able to identify different bugs and make use of different exploratory testing strategies. Finally, it was concluded that the untrained testing group can also bring value to a testing team. Further studies can be conducted in order to find the characteristics of the best-untrained tester.