Software Testing Quality Control & Assurance 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which type of software review is the most formal and structured, with defined roles including a moderator, author, reviewers, and scribe?
- Walkthrough
- Informal review
- Inspection (Correct answer)
- Technical review
Correct answer: Inspection
Fagan inspections are the most formal review type with defined roles, entry/exit criteria, checklists, and metrics collection.
Question 2: A QA team uses control charts to monitor a build process. A point that falls outside the upper control limit indicates:
- Common cause variation only
- A special cause variation requiring investigation (Correct answer)
- The process is within acceptable quality levels
- The sample size is too large
Correct answer: A special cause variation requiring investigation
Points outside control limits signal special cause (assignable) variation, meaning something unusual occurred that needs investigation.
Question 3: What is the primary purpose of a test policy in a QA framework?
- To define specific test cases for each feature
- To describe the organization's principles and high-level objectives for testing (Correct answer)
- To assign defect severity levels
- To schedule regression test cycles
Correct answer: To describe the organization's principles and high-level objectives for testing
A test policy states the organization's overall testing philosophy and objectives, serving as the foundation for all test strategies and plans.
Question 4: Which quality assurance technique involves executing a program with the intent of finding errors, without reference to the internal structure?
- White-box testing
- Static analysis
- Black-box testing (Correct answer)
- Code inspection
Correct answer: Black-box testing
Black-box testing validates software behavior based solely on inputs and expected outputs without knowledge of internal implementation.
Question 5: In the context of quality costs, warranty repairs and customer complaint handling are classified as:
- Prevention costs
- Appraisal costs
- Internal failure costs
- External failure costs (Correct answer)
Correct answer: External failure costs
External failure costs arise after the product reaches the customer and include warranty claims, support costs, and reputation damage.
Question 6: A team performing a root cause analysis uses the '5 Whys' technique. What is the primary goal of this approach?
- To identify all stakeholders affected by a defect
- To drill down to the fundamental cause of a problem by repeatedly asking why (Correct answer)
- To rank defects by severity and priority
- To estimate the cost of fixing a defect
Correct answer: To drill down to the fundamental cause of a problem by repeatedly asking why
The 5 Whys technique iteratively asks 'why' to peel back layers of symptoms and identify the true root cause of a problem.
Question 7: Which artifact documents the mapping between test cases and the requirements they verify, ensuring complete coverage?
- Test log
- Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) (Correct answer)
- Defect report
- Test summary report
Correct answer: Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM)
A Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) maps each requirement to its corresponding test cases, ensuring all requirements are tested.
Software Testing Quality Control & Assurance 3
Which type of software review is the most formal and structured, with defined roles including a moderator, author, reviewers, and scribe?