Empirical studies of the effects of incorporating fault exposure potential estimates into a test data adequacy criterion

Graduation date: 2001Researchers have hypothesized that if we could estimate the probability that\ud a fault in a code component will a cause a failure, we could use this estimate to\ud improve the fault-detection effectiveness of code-coverage-based testing. If this\ud hypothesis could be supported, it would motivate further research in this area\ud and could lead to techniques that would help testers distribute testing resources\ud more effectively and improve the quality of testing. In this research, we developed\ud a new test adequacy criterion, which incorporates fault exposure potential\ud estimates into statement-coverage requirements. We conducted empirical studies\ud to investigate the fault-detection effectiveness of this new criterion. The\ud results of our studies show that the incorporation of fault exposure potential\ud information into the statement-coverage test adequacy criterion can indeed improve\ud its fault-detection effectiveness. However, the effects of incorporating the\ud estimates vary with the program under test, the nature of faults contained in\ud the program, and the level of confidence required of the testing. The overall\ud improvements in fault-detection effectiveness that we observed under our initial\ud approach were not as large as we might wish, but by improving the method for\ud estimating fault exposure potential we can obtain better results. The results of\ud this research provide impetus for future studies in this area