Guidelines for Combining Regression Testing Approaches

Regression testing is an important activity in software maintenance and software enhancement as it can help developers to determine if changes made to the system are handled appropriately without compromising efficiency. While not employed often, it is possible to combine several regression testing techniques. Combining them can lead to a more efficient and effective regression test suite. The three types of regression testing, selective, minimization, and prioritization, can be combined in four different ways: There are three ways to combine two of the approaches and one way to combine all three. However, to efficiently and effectively employ regression testing, it is crucial to select the appropriate combination for the software that is to be tested. For example, the expected quality of the software, the kind of changes made, or the criticality of the software heavily influence which strategies to combine and in what order. This paper presents guidelines for combining regression testing approaches based on a systematic approach. We outline all possible situations that can occur and show how each of them influences which combination to use.