Crowdsourced testing, also known as crowdtesting, is a practice where testing tasks are distributed to a crowd of external testers who are not part of the development team or organization. This approach leverages the diverse skills, experiences, and devices of a distributed group of testers. Research topics related to crowdsourced testing include:
- Crowdsourced Testing Effectiveness: Investigate the effectiveness of crowdsourced testing in comparison to traditional in-house testing, considering factors such as defect detection, test coverage, and test quality.
- Crowdsourced Test Case Design: Explore methods for designing test cases suitable for crowdsourced testing, considering diverse tester backgrounds and skill levels.
- Crowdsourcing Platform Evaluation: Analyze and compare different crowdsourcing platforms (e.g., Bugcrowd, Testbirds, uTest) in terms of the quality of testers, support, and the success of crowdsourced testing projects.
- Incentives and Motivation: Research the incentives and motivational factors that drive crowdsourced testers to participate in testing projects and propose strategies to keep them engaged.
- Test Crowd Management: Study strategies for managing and coordinating a crowd of testers, including onboarding, communication, and issue resolution.
- Crowdsourced Security Testing: Investigate the use of crowdsourced testing for identifying security vulnerabilities, ethical hacking, and penetration testing.
- Quality Assurance in Crowdsourced Testing: Examine how quality assurance practices can be applied to ensure the reliability and consistency of crowdsourced testing results.
- Test Coverage and Diversity: Analyze the diversity of devices, operating systems, and environments used by crowdsourced testers and assess test coverage in this context.
- Crowdsourced Usability and UX Testing: Research the application of crowdsourced testing for assessing the usability and user experience of software applications.
- Geographical and Cultural Considerations: Study how the geographical and cultural diversity of crowdsourced testers can impact testing results and user expectations.
- Comparative Analysis with Automated Testing: Compare the strengths and weaknesses of crowdsourced testing against automated testing approaches, such as AI-driven testing.
- Scaling Crowdsourced Testing: Investigate strategies for scaling crowdsourced testing to accommodate large and complex software projects.
- Legal and Ethical Aspects: Examine the legal and ethical implications of crowdsourced testing, including issues related to data privacy, intellectual property, and compliance.
- Feedback and Communication: Research methods for effective feedback and communication between development teams and crowdsourced testers to improve collaboration.
- Bug Triage and Management: Explore bug triage and management processes when dealing with a large volume of defects reported by crowdsourced testers.
- Cost-Benefit Analysis: Analyze the cost-effectiveness of crowdsourced testing in comparison to traditional testing approaches, considering factors such as time-to-market and defect identification.
- Crowdsourced Testing for Emerging Technologies: Study the applicability of crowdsourced testing for emerging technologies, such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and blockchain.
- Testing Game Apps: Investigate the specific challenges and benefits of crowdsourced testing for mobile and online gaming applications.
Crowdsourced testing is a dynamic and evolving field with a lot of potential for improving the quality and coverage of software testing. Research in this area can help organizations make informed decisions about when and how to use crowdsourced testing and how to effectively manage it to achieve their testing goals.