What is Active Testing?

Active testing is used when a tester needs to interact with a software product as an end-user. The tester feeds in different inputs to the system and then analyzes the output received.

Active testing can be carried out at any stage to create a mental model of the system that continues to grow as development shapes up.

The illustration below gives an idea of active testing:

In active testing, specific issues related to the test input are identified. Therefore, inputs must be designed carefully by the tester. It can involve both white-box testing whereby the tester knows the functionality of the function being tested, or black-box testing in which the tester is concerned with the inputs and outputs only. Active testing also needs to be performed manually since every output is analyzed by the tester themselves.

Active testing is performed when the process is being developed, and before it is released to the end user.

Why is active testing performed?

Active testing is performed in order to:

• Identify bugs before releasing the product.
• Enhance user experience.
• Understand user perspective while using the product.

Advantages of active testing:

Active testing has the following advantages:

• Issues can be fixed as soon as they are spotted during tests.
• Validates that the product matches the requirements and standards set by the user.

The illustration below summarizes the usage and advantages of active testing: