Domain Testing: Divide and Conquer - Testing Education

• For width and height, you can satisfy the 7 criteria (each) with 1, 56., and 9.0123 (3 tests
rather than 7 for each variable)
• For Number slides, you can satisfy the 6 criteria with 0 and 9999 (two tests)
• The comments and conclusions that applied to A2529S2 apply here in the same way.
Subject A2529S4
• This subject's 4 variables were
Width [TC# 1,2,7,8,9,15,17] => [W1,W2,W3,W4,W5,W6,W7]
Height [TC# 1,2,7,8,9,15,17] =>[H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6,H7]
Orientation of Notes, handouts and outlines [TC# 1, 2] =>[O1,O2]
Number slides from. [#TC 1, 2, 7, 8, 11, 12] => [s1, s2, s3, s4,s5,s6]
• For width and height, you can satisfy the 7 criteria (each) with 1, 56., and 9.0123 (3 tests
rather than 7 for each variable)
• For Number slides, you can satisfy the 6 criteria with 0, 1 and 9999 (three tests). There
should be only two tests, but the subject misidentified the lower boundary as 1 instead of
0.
• The comments and conclusions that applied to A2529S2 and A2529S3 apply here in the
same way.
Subject A2529S5
• The subject's analysis, and my comments, are the same as for A2529S1.
Evaluation of the Results of the Thesis Experiment
In Padmanabhan's proposal defense, we (the advisory committee) agreed that it was important
for Padmanabhan to obtain a positive result. That is, she was to demonstrate that she understood
domain testing well enough, and instructional design well enough, that she could effectively
teach novice testers how to do domain testing.
The performance test results convince me that Padmanabhan failed in this ultimate objective.
However, I think she failed in an interesting way and that the materials she developed and the
process she followed to develop the materials are of barely sufficient quality to satisfy the
requirements for a Master's thesis.
I say "barely sufficient quality" because many of my objections to the subjects' performance
apply to Padmanabhan's Answer Key:
• Enumerated variables are tabled the same way you would table variables that you can
perform equivalence class analysis on
• Width, height, and starting number are analyzed in the same stereotyped ways, the limits
discovered through testing are treated as the known-to-be-correct limits