Hughes

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A short history of testing

February 18, 2008 in testing | No comments

It is useful to view testing from a historical perspective for two reasons:

  • It enables us to relate current developments in the field to what has preceded them.
  • Methods of testing rarely die out, but are more often than not adapted or continue to exist in modified forms in different parts of the world. Although various stages or periods in the development of testing can be identified, many of the testing techniques associated with these periods remain in use today.

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    Practical Considerations: Reliability, Validity, and Efficiency

    February 18, 2008 in testing | No comments

    These are crucial aspects of testing. There is perhaps a constant dynamic tension and balance between validity and reliability. Validity is perhaps the central quality. Reliability is a necessary but not sufficient condition for validity: valid tests are necessarily reliable, but reliable tests are not necessarily valid.

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    Approaches to testing: direct and indirect testing

    February 18, 2008 in testing | 1 comment

    Having established the purpose of a test (see the post: Types of test - why are we testing?), other factors will then affect the general approach. Whereas in the past the focus was almost exclusively on the techniques of testing, how to test, the main issues and concerns in testing today are much more to do with what we want to test. Read the rest of this entry »