The Ups and down of Crowdsourced Testing

    Aug 31, 2022 0

    Crowdsourced testing is a revolution to bring out the precision in testing for flawlessness and composure of the software or app. This budding approach utilizes the benefits, efficacy and competence of crowdsourcing and on-demand computing procedure, leveraging the cloud platform. The term was coined by Jeff Howe, who tried to leverage the crowd to perform quick and reliable testing, thus improving the quality of a specific software or app.

    Crowdsourced testing involves testing by a number of testers from different places and at diverse platforms. Unlike traditional testing where hired professionals and consultants perform the job, crowdsourced testing is carried out by a motley group of testers, which makes it a more fast, consistent, cost-effective, and bug-free approach compared to its traditional counterpart. Performing remote usability testing becomes easy with crowdsourced testing since it permits recruitment of particular target groups through the crowd.

    Types of Crowdsourced Testing

    Crowdsourced testing, on the basis of nature of testers, can be divided into two types:

    -Implicit Crowdsourced Testing: This refers to cases when the testers are unspecialized in the field. The feedback usually collected by the testers is non technical, for example appearance of app, loading time of app etc.

    -Explicit Crowdsourced Testing: This refers to cases when testing is done by the experts. Most of the time, the testers are given the right to edit the software or app.

    Application of Crowdsourced testing

    Crowdsourced testing is specifically done for software or app which is user centric and has diverse user space. This testing approach holds good for gaming software or app and mobile applications.

    Websites for Crowdsourced Testing

    Following are a few websites active in the domain of crowdsourced testing:

    http://www.usertesting.com/: This has brought a revolution in the field of crowdsourced testing. Within an hour of submission of the software or app, a feedback video by users sharing their thoughts about the software in accordance to the goal set is provided by the website.

    http://mycrowd.com: This website performs on demand crowdsourced testing. This mainly emphasizes on UI testing, functional testing and test scripts.

    https://bugcrowd.com/: The developers of this website vouch for their excellent testing quality, especially for software from security organizations.

    https://www.crowdtesters.com/: This is a well known website for testing of app, bug bash, game, security, localization, usability and non-functional testing of products. It has a collection of highly skilled testers in bank.

    Advantages of Crowdsourced Testing

    • Assorted background coverage: Testing is done by varied testers to provide a widesituational coverage of OS, internet bandwidth, devices and desktop configurations.
    • Dispersed Human Acumen Tasking: Best for large Software or app, which require a lot of effort and time.
    • Unbiased Approach: Since the testers are from varied locale and not internally related to the company, the testing is unprejudiced.
    • Knowledge Discovery and Supervision: It is also used to collect information and solution of any flaw or fault.
    • Cost-Effective: As the testers are not internally related to company, the company does not have to pay them; thus, it is outlay efficient.

    Disadvantages of Crowdsourced Testing

    • Rigorous analysis of the feedback is essential as the feedback is both from rookie and experts.
    • Quality of the software or app may get affected, at times.A developer develops a software with a specific vision but when lots of testers give their ideas and feedback and the changes are inculcated in the product, the visionary ideal of the product often gets transformed.
    • Timely and prompt feedback is a big challenge in this type of testing.
    • Explicit type of crowdsourced testing even authenticates the testers to make changes, thus adversely affecting the authenticity of the software, at times.

    How to Select the Best Crowdsourced Testing Company

    Following are the criteria to be considered while selecting a crowdsourcedtesting company:

    • The company should have adequate experience in the domain to ensure less maintenance and accuracy in results.
    • The company’s global outstretch should be vast to ensure maximum testers in the testing pool.
    • Mediating companies acting as a bridge between crowdsourced testing companies and the clients should be avoided to ensure less expenditure.
    • Mid-scale companies can be selected for small projects and large testing companies should be selected for larger projects to ensure optimized expenditure.
    • Terms and conditions, security, confidentiality, safety, quality, delivery methodologies, price structure should be agreed upon with the chosen company in advance.

    Points to Ponder Upon to Avoid Failures

    Following points should be kept in mind for success of crowdsourced testing technique:

    • Standardized forms should be developed and provided to the testing companies.
    • Expectations should be explained with clarity.
    • Miscommunication should be avoided (by steering clear of using complex jargons in communication)
    • Both the sides should be prompt with their mutual interactions so that queries or issues can be clarified and solved fast.

    It has been proved that crowdsourced testing is quite an effective one involving numerous testers from varied backgrounds, which ensures quality, effective and fast results, thanks to the combined skills and thoughts. Perhaps that’s why crowdsourced testing technique is trusted by Fortune 100 companies and bootstrapped startups alike.

    What are your best tips for Crowdsourced Testing? Share them in the comments section below or Let us know on twitter at @TechArcis.

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