[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-503561-105":59,"doc-detail-503561-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","test-better-by-exploring-harnessing-human-skills-and-knowledge","Test Better by Exploring - Harnessing Human Skills and Knowledge","","End users continue to encounter software bugs despite developers’ efforts toward high-quality software. Building on the value of traditional testing and QA, the manuscript argues for stronger emphasis on exploration in software testing. Exploration supports earlier discovery of more relevant defects by enabling direct use of knowledge and learning. It outlines the characteristics of exploration, the role of knowledge, and proposes three practice levels in exploratory testing, encouraging academics and practitioners to report benefits across industrial and academic contexts.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":30,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/technology/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/test-better-by-exploring-harnessing-human-skills-and-knowledge/503561/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/test-better-by-exploring-harnessing-human-skills-and-knowledge/503561.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Marglet","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-14","2026-10-03",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":29},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why do end users still detect bugs despite testing and QA investments?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The manuscript argues that traditional systematic and documented test approaches still leave room for improved bug discovery, and that more emphasis on exploration better addresses end users’ needs.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What does exploration mean in the context of software testing?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Exploration happens when the route to traverse and the discoveries to make are not known in advance, aiming to discover new information about the unknown quality of the system.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How is exploratory testing different from confirmatory testing?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Confirmatory testing focuses on designing and documenting test cases beforehand, while exploratory testing centers the tester, combining learning, test design, execution, and result interpretation as parallel supportive activities.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},503561,1791101748,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":29,"category_name":30,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":29,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},2336477982702,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc","Accepted manuscript (May 2015)– IEEE Software Magazine Copyright IEEE  \nTest Better by Exploring: Harnessing Human Skills and Knowledge  \nJuha Itkonen  \nDepartment of Computer Science , Aalto University FI-00076 AALTO, FINLAND  \n[juha.itkonen@aalto.fi](juha.itkonen@aalto.fi)[ ](juha.itkonen@aalto.fi)+358 505771688  \nMika V. Mäntylä  \nDepartment of Information Processing Science , University of Oulu FI-90014 OULU, FINLAND  \n[mika.mantyla@oulu.fi](mika.mantyla@oulu.fi)  \nDepartment of Computer Science , Aalto University FI-00076 AALTO, FINLAND  \nCasper Lassenius  \nDepartment of Computer Science , Aalto University FI-00076 AALTO, FINLAND [casper.lassenius@aalto.fi](casper.lassenius@aalto.fi)  \nAbstract  \nEnd users continue to stumble upon software bugs, despite developers’efforts to build and test high-quality software. While traditional testing and quality assurance techniques are extremely valuable, we suggest that more focus should be given to the role of exploration in software testing. Exploration can bring direct utilization of knowledge and learning to the core of industrial software testing, helping to earlier reveal more relevant bugs. We describe the characteristics of exploration, the role of knowledge in software testing, and describe three levels of practices in exploratory testing. We propose that academics and practitioners focus their attention to exploiting the strengths of exploration in software testing and reporting existing practices and benefits form varying contexts, both from industry and academia.  \nKeywords  \nD.2.4.i Validation, D.2.5.k Testing strategies, D.2.5.l Test design, D.2.5.q Test management,  \nD.2.19.c Methods for SQA and V&V, Exploratory testing  \nAccepted manuscript (May 2015)– IEEE Software Magazine Copyright IEEE  \nIntroduction  \nWhy do end users keep detecting bugs despite of the vendors’ investments to testing and quality assurance? We suggest that more focus should be given to the role of exploration in software testing as a way of better addressing end users’needs. Traditionally, software testing emphasizes the need for systematic and documented approaches to detect bugs, using predefined test cases. Some models assume that when human testers are involved, their main task is to more or less mechanically execute the test cases and report any deviations from the expected results.  \nHowever, testing professionals often see testing in a remarkably different light, describing it as an intellectually challenging, creative, and professionally demanding task that requires a wide variety of knowledge and skills [1] .  \nIn industrial practice, the contribution of human testers is a highly relevant part of software development, because most new bugs are found by humans testing the software, especially in the context of interactive systems. Human testers possess benefits over machines, including knowledge, creativity, intelligence, the ability to learn and adapt to new situations, and the ability to efficiently recognize problems.  \nIn this article, we focus on the role of exploration as a facet of software testing. We discuss the benefits of exploration, the importance of the personal knowledge and skills, and the exploration practices used in industry. We encourage more research investments to these exploratory and human aspects in order to leverage what has been found working in practice.  \nExploration as a Facet of Software Testing  \nExploration occurs when the route to be traversed and the discoveries to be made are not known in advance. This is also the case in software testing, since the value and goal of testing is to discover new information about the (unknown) quality of the tested system.  \nVarying Degrees of Exploration  \nSoftware testing involves various degrees of exploring from a completely automated, confirmatory approach, to pure exploration, as illustrated in Figure 1. Between these two extremes, there are varying degrees of exploring associated with different types of testing. At","cbCaisRVgvKwirNa","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaisRVgvKwirNa","pdf",5098532,13,"English","# Abstract\n# Introduction\n# Exploration as a Facet of Software Testing\n## Varying Degrees of Exploration\n## Exploratory Testing (ET)","[{\"question\":\"Why do end users still detect bugs despite testing and QA investments?\",\"answer\":\"The manuscript argues that traditional systematic and documented test approaches still leave room for improved bug discovery, and that more emphasis on exploration better addresses end users’ needs.\"},{\"question\":\"What does exploration mean in the context of software testing?\",\"answer\":\"Exploration happens when the route to traverse and the discoveries to make are not known in advance, aiming to discover new information about the unknown quality of the system.\"},{\"question\":\"How is exploratory testing different from confirmatory testing?\",\"answer\":\"Confirmatory testing focuses on designing and documenting test cases beforehand, while exploratory testing centers the tester, combining learning, test design, execution, and result interpretation as parallel supportive activities.\"}]","Test Better by Exploring - Harnessing Human Skills and Knowledge | PDF",1791058313,33]