Exploratory testing in action: an undergraduate thesis pairs scripted and free approaches to evaluate software
Iolane Caroline Alves de Andrade defended at FCTE/UnB an undergraduate thesis applying exploratory testing alongside traditional testing, highlighting the learning gain that exploratory testing brings to the process.
Brasília, December 15, 2020
Traditional testing executes a script; exploratory testing executes a hypothesis. This distinction — more didactic than usually acknowledged — is what the undergraduate thesis defended by Iolane Caroline Alves de Andrade in December 2020 puts into practice, advised by Prof. Ricardo Ajax Dias Kosloski .
The work carries out a functional evaluation of a software product by combining both approaches. On the scripted side, tests verify that expected outputs materialize. On the exploratory side, testers freely probe the system searching for unexpected behavior — with the side effect of producing learning about the product itself. This dual observation gives body to the thesis’s practical contribution: a reference for teams deciding where each type of testing should sit in the development cycle.
The work belongs to verification, validation and testing and reinforces the argument that software quality cannot rest on a single approach — it depends on the disciplined, combined use of complementary techniques.
The full text — written in Portuguese — is available at the UnB Undergraduate Theses Digital Library.
About CEDIS: The Center for Studies, Development, and Innovation in Software (CEDIS), linked to the University of Brasília, researches and develops innovative software solutions.