AN ANALYSIS OF SOFTWARE TESTING TECHNIQUES IN ENSURING SYSTEM QUALITY AND ERROR REDUCTION

Abstract

The complexity of systems, tight development cycles and a growing desire of users for high quality software leave software quality assurance as an important problem in contemporary software development. This research work examines the effectiveness of software testing techniques for ensuring quality of software systems and minimizing software defects during software development life cycle. System failures, security vulnerabilities, and operational inefficiencies due to poor testing practices are a recurring issue that needs to be tackled. The research is based on the Software Quality Assurance (SQA) Framework and the Defect Prevention Theory, and it investigates the various testing methods and how they relate to software reliability and performance. Secondary data was gathered from open-source and enterprise software repositories, testing reports, defect-tracking and quality assurance documentation to use a quantitative research methodology. The study was centered on comparing the effectiveness of the various testing methods to identify and prevent defect namely, unit testing, integration testing, system testing, regression testing and automated testing. The results show that those organizations that used full testing strategies had significantly fewer defects, improved system reliability and better software maintainability. Recurring defects and post deployment failures were especially well identified by automated and regression testing. The results show that on average 35-50% of defects are reduced, test coverage over 80%, and maintenance costs reduced by around 25%. By combining several software testing methods along the software development life cycle, the study concludes that the quality of the software system is greatly enhanced, the risk of operation is reduced, and reliable and secure software products with user needs are delivered.