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An experimental evaluation of inspection and testing for detection of design faults

Andersson, Carina LU ; Thelin, Thomas LU ; Runeson, Per LU orcid and Dzamashvili, N (2003) Proceedings 2003 International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering. ISESE 2003 p.174-184
Abstract
The two most common strategies for verification and validation, inspection and testing, are in a controlled experiment evaluated in terms of their fault detection capabilities. These two techniques are in the previous work compared applied to code. In order to compare the efficiency and effectiveness of these techniques on a higher abstraction level than code, this experiment investigates inspection of design documents and testing of the corresponding program, to detect faults originating from the design document. Usage-based reading (UBR) and usage-based testing (UBT) were chosen for inspections and testing, respectively. These techniques provide similar aid to the reviewers as to the testers. The purpose of both fault detection... (More)
The two most common strategies for verification and validation, inspection and testing, are in a controlled experiment evaluated in terms of their fault detection capabilities. These two techniques are in the previous work compared applied to code. In order to compare the efficiency and effectiveness of these techniques on a higher abstraction level than code, this experiment investigates inspection of design documents and testing of the corresponding program, to detect faults originating from the design document. Usage-based reading (UBR) and usage-based testing (UBT) were chosen for inspections and testing, respectively. These techniques provide similar aid to the reviewers as to the testers. The purpose of both fault detection techniques is to focus the inspection and testing from a user's viewpoint. The experiment was conducted with 51 Master's students in a two-factor blocked design; each student applied each technique once, each application on different versions of the same program. The two versions contained different sets of faults, including 13 and 14 faults, respectively. The general results from this study show that when the two groups of subjects are combined, the efficiency and effectiveness are significantly higher for usage-based reading and that testing tends to require more learning. Rework is not taken into account, thus the experiment indicates strong support for design inspection over testing (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
user viewpoint, abstraction level, fault detection, controlled experiment, validation, verification, inspection, experimental evaluation, usage-based testing, code, usage-based reading, design document
host publication
Proceedings 2003 International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering. ISESE 2003
pages
174 - 184
publisher
IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
conference name
Proceedings 2003 International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering. ISESE 2003
conference location
Rome, Italy
conference dates
2003-09-30 - 2003-10-01
external identifiers
  • wos:000186331600018
  • scopus:84944323902
ISBN
0-7695-2002-2
DOI
10.1109/ISESE.2003.1237976
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
9f751155-96d2-4bab-a61f-8bc1d196b4a9 (old id 612441)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 11:34:44
date last changed
2022-01-29 22:04:08
@inproceedings{9f751155-96d2-4bab-a61f-8bc1d196b4a9,
  abstract     = {{The two most common strategies for verification and validation, inspection and testing, are in a controlled experiment evaluated in terms of their fault detection capabilities. These two techniques are in the previous work compared applied to code. In order to compare the efficiency and effectiveness of these techniques on a higher abstraction level than code, this experiment investigates inspection of design documents and testing of the corresponding program, to detect faults originating from the design document. Usage-based reading (UBR) and usage-based testing (UBT) were chosen for inspections and testing, respectively. These techniques provide similar aid to the reviewers as to the testers. The purpose of both fault detection techniques is to focus the inspection and testing from a user's viewpoint. The experiment was conducted with 51 Master's students in a two-factor blocked design; each student applied each technique once, each application on different versions of the same program. The two versions contained different sets of faults, including 13 and 14 faults, respectively. The general results from this study show that when the two groups of subjects are combined, the efficiency and effectiveness are significantly higher for usage-based reading and that testing tends to require more learning. Rework is not taken into account, thus the experiment indicates strong support for design inspection over testing}},
  author       = {{Andersson, Carina and Thelin, Thomas and Runeson, Per and Dzamashvili, N}},
  booktitle    = {{Proceedings 2003 International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering. ISESE 2003}},
  isbn         = {{0-7695-2002-2}},
  keywords     = {{user viewpoint; abstraction level; fault detection; controlled experiment; validation; verification; inspection; experimental evaluation; usage-based testing; code; usage-based reading; design document}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{174--184}},
  publisher    = {{IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.}},
  title        = {{An experimental evaluation of inspection and testing for detection of design faults}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ISESE.2003.1237976}},
  doi          = {{10.1109/ISESE.2003.1237976}},
  year         = {{2003}},
}