Confirmation Bias and Time Pressure: A Family of Experiments in Software Testing

Abstract

Background : Software testers manifest confirmation bias (the cognitive tendency) when they design relatively more specification consistent test cases than specification inconsistent test cases. Time pressure may influence confirmation bias of testers per the research in the psychology discipline.

Objective : We examine the manifestation of confirmation bias of software testers while designing functional test cases, and the effect of time pressure on confirmation bias in the same context.

Method : We executed one internal and two external experimental replications concerning the original experimentation in Oulu. We analyse individual replications and meta-analyse our family of experiments (the original and replications) for joint results on the phenomena.

Results: Our findings indicate a significant manifestation of confirmation bias by software testers during the designing of functional test cases. Time pressure significantly promoted confirmation bias among testers per the joint results of the family. The different experimental sites affected the results; however, we did not detect any effects of site-specific variables.

Conclusion : Software testers should develop an outside-of-the-box thinking attitude to counter the manifestation of confirmation bias. Time pressure can be manoeuvred by centring manual suites on the designing and consequently the execution of inconsistent test cases, while automated testing focuses on consistent ones.