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Quality attributes of test cases and test suites - importance & challenges from practitioners' perspectives
Blekinge Institute of Technology, Faculty of Computing, Department of Software Engineering.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-0066-1792
Blekinge Institute of Technology, Faculty of Computing, Department of Software Engineering.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7266-5632
Blekinge Institute of Technology, Faculty of Computing, Department of Software Engineering.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-4118-0952
Blekinge Institute of Technology, Faculty of Computing, Department of Software Engineering.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-0639-4234
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2025 (English)In: Software quality journal, ISSN 0963-9314, E-ISSN 1573-1367, Vol. 33, no 1, article id 9Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The quality of the test suites and the constituent test cases significantly impacts confidence in software testing. While research has identified several quality attributes of test cases and test suites, there is a need for a better understanding of their relative importance in practice. We investigate practitioners' perceptions regarding the relative importance of quality attributes of test cases and test suites and the challenges that they face in ensuring the perceived important quality attributes. To capture the practitioners' perceptions, we conducted an industrial survey using a questionnaire based on the quality attributes identified in an extensive literature review. We used a sampling strategy that leverages LinkedIn to draw a large and heterogeneous sample of professionals with experience in software testing. We collected 354 responses from practitioners with a wide range of experience (from less than one year to 42 years of experience). We found that the majority of practitioners rated Fault Detection, Usability, Maintainability, Reliability, and Coverage to be the most important quality attributes. Resource Efficiency, Reusability, and Simplicity received the most divergent opinions, which, according to our analysis, depend on the software-testing contexts. Also, we identified common challenges that apply to the important attributes, namely inadequate definition, lack of useful metrics, lack of an established review process, and lack of external support. The findings point out where practitioners actually need further support with respect to achieving high-quality test cases and test suites under different software testing contexts. Hence, the findings can serve as a guideline for academic researchers when looking for research directions on the topic. Furthermore, the findings can be used to encourage companies to provide more support to practitioners to achieve high-quality test cases and test suites.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer, 2025. Vol. 33, no 1, article id 9
Keywords [en]
Software testing, Test case quality, Test suite quality, Quality assurance
National Category
Software Engineering
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:bth-27395DOI: 10.1007/s11219-024-09698-wISI: 001396622900001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85217646661OAI: oai:DiVA.org:bth-27395DiVA, id: diva2:1930965
Part of project
GIST – Gaining actionable Insights from Software Testing, Knowledge FoundationSERT- Software Engineering ReThought, Knowledge Foundation
Funder
ELLIIT - The Linköping‐Lund Initiative on IT and Mobile CommunicationsKnowledge Foundation, 20220235Knowledge Foundation, 20180010Available from: 2025-01-24 Created: 2025-01-24 Last updated: 2025-02-21Bibliographically approved

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Tran, Huynh Khanh ViAli, Nauman binUnterkalmsteiner, MichaelBörstler, Jürgen

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