Do Novice Testers Satisfy Technique Prescription? An Empirical Study

Abstract

White box unit testing focus on examining code portions at unit level. Each testing technique considers and examines specific aspects of the code under test. We have studied whether the test case sets developed by novice testers who apply white box techniques meet the coverage criteria they prescribe. We have conducted an experiment that uses the Statement Coverage (SC) and All Uses (AU) techniques. 21 subjects applied the testing techniques under study, 10 applied SC and 11 applied AU. We analyzed the coverage level achieved by each test case set. 9 out of 10 subjects that apply SC managed to meet the coverage criterion prescribed by the technique. However, none of the 11 subjects who used AU did. This result has implications on professional practice and testing teaching and education.