Cause/Effect as a Modern Test Design Technique

Test design is a component step in the software development process at the testing stage. Again, software testing is a technical research process to create and design, as well as to reveal information about the quality of a product being developed concerning the context in which it should function.

The use of testing techniques helps to identify bugs and flaws, as well as to test software products (the ultimate goal of which is to assess compliance with the conditions presented in the documentation/specifications), to implement the functionality of the product in the allotted time, practicality and compatibility with software and operating systems.

Test Design Techniques

1. Equivalence Partitioning is differentiation into equivalence classes. It assumes testing one value inside the class and one value outside the class.
2. Boundary Value Analysis is a software testing method when tests are designed to include boundary values into rank.
3. Error Guessing. The use of personal experience of knowledge of the system, as well as the application of the specification, makes it possible to predict the conditions, provoking the system for error.
4. Exhaustive testing involves testing probable scenarios. Practical application of this method is difficult due to a large amount of input data.
5. Cause/effect is entering combinations of conditions (causes) to get a response from the system (effect), which contributes to the use of a minimum number of tests and finding the maximum number of bugs. Testing causal effect where the graphical display of input data (causes) and output data (results) is used for design. A combination of different reasons can lead to different results. The analysis of the connections makes it possible to comprehensively select high-performance tests. This method detects specification deficiencies at the earliest stage.

Method of testing causality

This technique is focused on specification and its principles are the basis for the tests. Sequence and final results are described step-by-step, and indicators are provided when creating test cases.

Test Case is a document describing a set of steps, conditions, and parameters required to verify the implementation of the tested function or its part. This is the kind of technique that helps you create cases for functionality, considering all the elements that interact and influence each other.

Test Case Specification is a detailed description of the test steps and the final result, which provides a ratio of time to test coverage.

Test Coverage is one of the test quality assessment metrics, which is the density of test coverage of requirements or executable code.

The use of the technique will allow running fewer tests while detecting more bugs and using the saved time for performing other tasks.

To conclude, it’s worth noting that causal analysis is a special testing technique that displays the inputs and responses of the system. This technique allows you to significantly reduce the number of tests, and pay enough attention to the more significant and vulnerable parts of the functionality.