Software Testing Research & Evidence-Based Practice 5

Question 1

What is 'gray literature' in the context of software testing evidence gathering?

Accepted Answer

Non-peer-reviewed sources such as technical reports, blogs, and industry white papers

Answer

Gray literature includes practitioner knowledge published outside formal academic channels and is valuable for capturing industrial practice.

Question 2

In a software testing experiment comparing two code coverage criteria, what is the 'dependent variable'?

Accepted Answer

The outcome being measured, such as defect detection rate or branch coverage achieved

Answer

The dependent variable is what is measured as the outcome; the independent variable is the coverage criterion being manipulated.

Question 3

What does 'inter-rater reliability' measure in a qualitative software testing study?

Accepted Answer

The degree to which independent raters agree when classifying or coding the same data

Answer

High inter-rater reliability indicates that different researchers reach the same conclusions when analyzing qualitative data, strengthening credibility.

Question 4

A meta-analysis of unit testing studies reports a 'weighted mean effect size.' Why is weighting applied?

Accepted Answer

To give larger or more precise studies more influence on the combined estimate

Answer

Weighting ensures that higher-quality or larger studies contribute more to the pooled effect size estimate than small, imprecise studies.

Question 5

What is the primary risk of 'HARKing' (Hypothesizing After Results are Known) in software testing research?

Accepted Answer

It presents post-hoc observations as pre-planned hypotheses, inflating false-positive rates

Answer

HARKing misrepresents exploratory findings as confirmatory, bypassing the protection against chance results that pre-registration provides.

Software Testing Practice Test

Software Testing Practice Test

Software Testing Research & Evidence-Based Practice 5