What is Manual Testing | With Examples

What is Manual Testing | With Examples

Manual Testing

Manual testing is a software testing approach where testers manually execute test cases without using automation tools or scripts. It involves human intervention to verify and validate various aspects of a software application to ensure it meets the specified requirements and functions correctly. Manual testing is an essential part of the software development life cycle (SDLC) and is typically performed alongside automated testing, depending on the project’s needs and resources.

Here are some critical points about manual testing:

Test Planning: Testers create a test plan that outlines the scope, objectives, and approach for manual testing. This plan includes details on what features or functionalities will be tested, test scenarios, and test cases.

Test Execution: Testers manually execute test cases, following predefined steps, and record the results. They may use various testing techniques such as functional testing, regression testing, integration testing, and user acceptance testing, among others.

Exploratory Testing: Besides scripted test cases, manual testing often involves exploratory testing, where testers explore the software to find defects and issues that predefined test cases might not cover.

Ad Hoc Testing: Testers may perform ad hoc, informal, and unstructured testing. This can help discover unexpected issues and usability problems.

Usability Testing: Manual testing also includes evaluating the software’s user interface and user experience (UI/UX) aspects to ensure it is user-friendly and meets user expectations.

Regression Testing: After developers make changes to the software, testers often perform regression testing to ensure that new changes haven’t introduced any new defects and that existing functionality still works as expected.

User Acceptance Testing (UAT): In UAT, the end-users or stakeholders manually test the software to validate whether it meets their specific requirements and business needs.

Defect Reporting: Testers document any defects or issues during testing, providing detailed information to help developers understand and fix the problems.

Test Documentation: Manual testing involves the creation and maintenance of test documentation, including test cases, test scripts, test data, and test reports.

While manual testing has advantages, such as its flexibility and suitability for exploratory testing, it also has limitations, such as being time-consuming and prone to human error. Many organizations combine manual and automated testing to address these limitations to achieve a more efficient and comprehensive testing process. Automated testing involves software tools and scripts to execute test cases, which can be particularly useful for repetitive and regression testing scenarios.

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