Towards a hybrid testing process unifying exploratory testing and scripted testing

摘要

Given the current state of the art in research, practitioners are faced with the challenge of choosingrnscripted testing (ST) or exploratory testing (ET). This study aims at systematically incorporatingrnstrengths of ET and ST in a hybrid testing process to overcome the weaknesses of each. We utilizedrnsystematic review and practitioner interviews to identify strengths and weaknesses of ET and ST.rnStrengths of ET were mapped to weaknesses of ST and vice versa. Noblit and Hare’s lines-ofargumentrnmethod was used for data analysis. The results of the mapping were used as input to codesignrna hybrid process with experienced practitioners. We found a clear need to create a hybrid process asrnfollows: (i) both ST and ET provide strengths and weaknesses, and these depend on some particularrnconditions, which prevents preference of one approach to another; and (ii) the mapping showed thatrnit is possible to address the weaknesses in one process by the strengths of the other in a hybrid form.rnWith the input from literature and industry experts, a flexible and iterative hybrid process wasrndesigned. Practitioners can clearly benefit from using a hybrid process given the mapping of advantagesrnand disadvantages. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.