Introduction to Positive and Negative Testing

In this blog post, we are going to discuss the difference between the two types of software testing namely, Positive and Negative Testing. But before getting into the difference between positive testing and negative testing, we will briefly introduce what positive and negative testing is that are conducted on a piece of software before it gets released in the market.

Concept of Positive Testing 

• The system or application is checked against the legitimate input data in a process known as positive testing, which is a type of software testing. It is used to determine whether or not our application performs as expected and if an error is found during positive testing, the test is said to have failed & passed in the case if no error is found. 

• The test engineer will only check for a positive set of numbers throughout positive testing. Also, the main goal of doing positive testing is to confirm that the software is functioning as per the expectations or not.  

• Suppose we have a test case where we want to test an application having a required field to enter mobile no. Hence, only numerical values can be entered in the mobile no required field. In other words, it should accept only numerical data as per the app’s business requirements in order to determine if the software is working as expected or not. 

Concept of Negative Testing 

• Negative testing is done to see how the application responds appropriately to incorrect input or unexpected user activity. Only when the positive testing is over can we begin the negative testing, which helps in finding further bugs and improving the overall quality of the software application being tested. 

• Consider a sample form where the mobile number field only accepts numeric values and does not accept values for special characters or alphabets. But first, let’s test if it will take the individual letters and alphabets values by entering them in the mobile number field. 

• Here we expect that the mobile number field will reject invalid values and provide an error message in response. Hence, the primary purpose of performing negative testing is to ensure that the application is stable against the impacts of various types of inaccurate validation data. 

Positive and Negative Testing : Differences

Following are the major differences between positive and negative testing:

• Positive testing is the process of testing the application’s response with the use of valid input data set. On the other hand, negative testing is the process of testing the application’s response with the use of invalid input data set. 

• Positive testing is employed only under expected conditions. On the other hand, negative testing is employed only under unexpected conditions. As a result, positive testing requires lesser time for execution than negative testing. 

• To ensure that the software application always complies with developer’s needs and specifications, positive testing is executed. On the other hand, negative testing, is done to test the application’s consistency in opposition to false validation data sets. 

• Positive testing is not an assurance of high-quality software product or application. On the other hand, negative testing ensures that a high-quality software product or application will be delivered. Hence, negative testing has more impact than positive testing. 

• Positive testing does not cover all scenario. Negative testing, on the other hand, covers every scenario. Hence, compared to negative testing, positive testing is less important. 

• The positive testing can be carried out by someone with less knowledge. On the other hand, only testing experts are qualified to carry out negative testing. 

• Positive testing ensures the software’s compliance with requirements. On the other hand, negative testing ensures that the software is completely bug-free.

Conclusion

Hence, from the above discussion, we can conclude to say that given the stark contrast between positive and negative testing, it is clear that testing contributes to improving the quality of software applications and ensuring their bug-free status prior to release. These are two methods that are in opposition to one another, as the name implies, but are ultimately quite successful in producing high quality software. Therefore, positive and negative testing are like the two halves of a coin, which means that we must never undervalue anyone’s importance. 

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