Testing methodology
May 12th, 2008I was asked by my friend about “Testing methodology” and what this means. To be honest, I could not answer. I tried to come up with answers, but was only able to produce something along the lines of “test type”, “test case design technique”, “test level” and few others. My friend told me that “Testing methodology” includes “Regression Testing”, “Unit Testing, and “Performance Testing”. I did not agree with him and had to look up in QA Department documentation. Here is what I have found…
1. Categorization of testing based on the knowledge of system (Testing Type):
·Black Box Testing
·White Box Testing
·Gray Box Testing
2. Categorization of testing based on the time it is executed in the Software Development Life Cycle (Testing Technique):
·Unit Testing
·Integration Testing
·System Testing
·User Acceptance Testing
Examples of Black Box testing techniques:
·Exploratory testing
·Function testing
·Regression testing
Examples of White Box testing techniques:
·Statement testing and coverage
·Decision testing and coverage
·Control Structure Testing: Condition Testing and Data Flow Testing
3. Test Case Design Techniques (Black Box)
·Error Guessing
·Boundary Value Analysis
·Equivalence Partitioning
·Orthogonal Array Testing
As you can see, we do not use the “Testing methodology” term. When I did search for it, I found that sometimes it means the same as Testing Technique (“Testing methodology includes Unit Testing, Integration Testing..”), sometimes it means “the strategy for testing” for a particular project (which to me would be a Test Plan), and sometimes it means “an approach for testing.”
Mike Girenko
