Is it possible to achieve some of the benefits of formal testing within the informal
programming conventions of the spreadsheet paradigm? We investigate
an approach that attempts to do so via the development of a testing methodology
for this paradigm. The "What You See Is What You Test" (WYSIWYT)
methodology for testing spreadsheets supplements the automatic immediate visual
feedback about values with automatic immediate visual feedback about
"testedness". In this thesis, we present empirical data about the methodology's
effectiveness resulting from two controlled experiments. The first experiment
provided interesting but inconclusive results which spurred us to consider ways
to improve the design of our experiment. We used the Cognitive Walkthrough
method to evaluate and improve our design and readministered the experiment.
Our results from the redesigned experiment show that the use of the methodology
was associated with significant improvement in testing effectiveness and
efficiency, even with no training on the theory of testing or test adequacy that
the model implements. / Graduation date: 2000
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/33208 |
| Date | 31 March 2000 |
| Creators | Rothermel, Karen J. |
| Contributors | Cook, Curtis R. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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