An empirical evaluation of the influence of human personality on exploratory software testing

Abstract

Exploratory testing is a kind of testing in which no documentation or scripting is used. Personality characteristics including intelligence and extroversion play a significant role in exploratory testing. The main hypothesis of this research is `personality traits influence exploratory testing'. This research hypothesis has been unfolded into six sub-hypotheses which have been tested individually. To test the research hypothesis, an exploratory testing aptitude test (ETAT) was designed. The subjects were also given Pre-ETAT, standard progressive matrices (SPM), Myers-Briggs type indicator, and post-ETAT tests. The results were analyzed using statistical package of social sciences (SPSS). The results indicate that there is a positive correlation between human personality types and the ability of testers in exploratory testing. We conclude that people having extrovert personality types are good exploratory testers. Moreover, good exploratory testers have higher IQ level which is directly proportional to result of ETAT.