When you do combinatorial testing, you ensure that the input or configuration parameters of the system under test can accept, without error, a meaningful subset of combinations of values possible for those parameters.
If the app you're testing has more than one input or configuration parameter, you should include some combinatorial testing as part of your strategy. This is because research has shown that most failures result from the combination of specific values for one or two input or configuration parameters. The frequency of errors tends to decrease with value combinations from more than two parameters at once, but running those tests can be fruitful as well.
Pairwise testing is a subset of combinatorial testing. It sounds out every possible PAIR of values. But pairwise testing does not always cover enough combinations of three, four, or more values. That's where more advanced combinatorial testing techniques come in.
According to recent research, simply by ensuring that all possible three-way combinations of values for your parameters are covered, you'll catch 90 percent or more of the defects that could result from all possible combinations. This does NOT mean that you have to cover every single possible combination in your test plan! The set you need is small and manageable compared to all possible combinations.
You may not have a full set of expected results for all of your combinations of values. The research suggests that in these cases, simply monitoring for system failures may be enough.
If the app you're testing has more than one input or configuration parameter, you should include some combinatorial testing as part of your strategy. This is because research has shown that most failures result from the combination of specific values for one or two input or configuration parameters. The frequency of errors tends to decrease with value combinations from more than two parameters at once, but running those tests can be fruitful as well.
Pairwise testing is a subset of combinatorial testing. It sounds out every possible PAIR of values. But pairwise testing does not always cover enough combinations of three, four, or more values. That's where more advanced combinatorial testing techniques come in.
According to recent research, simply by ensuring that all possible three-way combinations of values for your parameters are covered, you'll catch 90 percent or more of the defects that could result from all possible combinations. This does NOT mean that you have to cover every single possible combination in your test plan! The set you need is small and manageable compared to all possible combinations.
You may not have a full set of expected results for all of your combinations of values. The research suggests that in these cases, simply monitoring for system failures may be enough.
