Exploring the impact of test suite granularity and test grouping technique on the cost-effectiveness of regression testing

Graduation date: 2003Regression testing is an expensive testing process used to validate changes\ud made to previously tested software. Different regression testing techniques can\ud have different impacts on the cost-effectiveness of testing. This cost-effectiveness\ud can also vary with different characteristics of test suites. One such characteristic,\ud test suite granularity, reflects the way in which test cases are organized\ud within a test suite; another characteristic, test grouping technique, involves the\ud way in which the test inputs are grouped into test cases. Various cost-benefits\ud tradeoffs have been attributed to choices of test suite granularity and test grouping\ud technique, but little research has formally examined these tradeoffs. In this\ud thesis, we conducted several controlled experiments, examining the effects of\ud test suite granularity and test grouping technique on the costs and benefits of\ud several regression testing methodologies across ten releases of a non-trivial software\ud system, empire. Our results expose essential tradeoffs to consider when\ud designing test suites for use in regression testing evolving systems