How can non-technical end users effectively test their spreadsheets?

Purpose – An alarming number of spreadsheet faults have been reported in the literature, indicating that effective and easy-to-apply spreadsheet testing techniques are not available for “non-technical,” end-user programmers. The purpose of this paper is to alleviate the problem by introducing a metamorphic testing (MT) technique for spreadsheets. Design/methodology/approach – The paper discussed four common challenges encountered by end-user programmers when testing a spreadsheet. The MT technique was then discussed and how it could be used to solve the common challenges was explained. An experiment involving several “real-world” spreadsheets was performed to determine the viability and effectiveness of MT. Findings – The experiment confirmed that MT is highly effective in spreadsheet fault detection, and yet MT is a general technique that can be easily used by end-user programmers to test a large variety of spreadsheet applications. Originality/value – The paper provides a detailed discussion of some common challenges of spreadsheet testing encountered by end-user programmers. To the best of the authors knowledge, the paper is the first that includes an empirical study of how effective MT is in spreadsheet fault detection from an end-user programmer's perspective

How can non-technical end users effectively test their spreadsheets?

Purpose – An alarming number of spreadsheet faults have been reported in the literature, indicating that effective and easy-to-apply spreadsheet testing techniques are not available for “non-technical,” end-user programmers. The purpose of this paper is to alleviate the problem by introducing a metamorphic testing (MT) technique for spreadsheets. Design/methodology/approach – The paper discussed four common challenges encountered by end-user programmers when testing a spreadsheet. The MT technique was then discussed and how it could be used to solve the common challenges was explained. An experiment involving several “real-world” spreadsheets was performed to determine the viability and effectiveness of MT. Findings – The experiment confirmed that MT is highly effective in spreadsheet fault detection, and yet MT is a general technique that can be easily used by end-user programmers to test a large variety of spreadsheet applications. Originality/value – The paper provides a detailed discussion of some common challenges of spreadsheet testing encountered by end-user programmers. To the best of the authors knowledge, the paper is the first that includes an empirical study of how effective MT is in spreadsheet fault detection from an end-user programmer’s perspective

A Comparison of the Effectiveness of a Spreadsheet Matrix vs. a Digital Concept Map in Improving Student Annotated Bibliography Entries and Literature Reviews in AP Research

AP Research students often find writing the literature review for their thesis papers challenging due to struggling to see connections between sources, leading to difficulty in establishing a gap in the literature. However, incorporating the use of an organizational tool can help students with these challenges and lead to a more thorough and interconnected annotated bibliography entries. With limited research into how well spreadsheet matrices and concept maps help AP Research students improve their writing of these entries, this action research project aimed to further the conversation of how best to help AP Research students approach writing a literature review. In a pre/post-intervention quasi-experimental design, one section of 20 AP Research students were asked to utilize a spreadsheet matrix and one section of 19 AP Research students were asked to utilize a digital concept map. Student annotations were evaluated before and after the intervention using a rubric. A chi-square test for association revealed a significant increase in proficient scores after interventions were implemented, but no significant difference in post-intervention scores between the two test groups. These findings suggest that the use of either a spreadsheet matrix or a digital concept map can lead to better proficiency in writing their annotated bibliography entries, both overall and specifically for interconnecting sources. The implication is that AP Research teachers should train students to use either a spreadsheet matrix or a digital concept map to help improve their ability to write an annotated bibliography, see connections between sources, and ultimately write their literature review

Spreadsheet-Fehlermuster

In den Achtzigern begann eine weitgehende Verbreitung von Spreadsheets in der Industrie als Folge davon, das Spreadsheet-Software für den PC erschienen ist, mit der auch nicht-programmiererfahrene Endnutzer Spreadsheets erzeugen und bearbeiten konnten. Heutzutage sind sie in fast allen Unternehmen nicht mehr weg zu denken. Jedoch zeigen viele Studien, dass ein Großteil dieser Spreadsheets Fehler enthalten und dadurch jährlich hohe Schäden verursachen. Obwohl Prüfwerkzeuge für Spreadsheets existieren, sind sie auf Grund von entwurfstechnischen Einschränkung in der Industrie nur in geringem Maße einsetzbar. Deshalb wurde an der Universität Stuttgart in bisher je 2 abgeschlossenen Diplom- und Bachelorarbeiten das Spreadsheet Inspection Framework erstellt. Das Ziel des Spreadsheet Inspection Frameworks ist es durch statische und dynamische Prüfungen, die selber erstellt und konfiguriert werden können, auf Fehler im Spreadsheet aufmerksam zu machen. In dieser Arbeit wurden Fehlermuster entwickelt um die statischen Prüfungen des Spreadsheet Inspection Frameworks zu erweitern. Das Fehlermuster "Einer unter Anderen" erkennt Schemata und davon abweichende Zellen finden. "Separate Mehrfachreferenzierung in Formeln" deckt Fehler beim Erstellen von Funktionen auf. "Eingaben an nicht berücksichtigten Stellen" erkennt sowohl falsche als auch fehlende Referenzierungen. Zudem werden Werte erkannt, die in falsche Zellen gesetzt wurden. Das Fehlermuster "Referenzierung auf null-Werte" durchsucht das Spreadsheet nach Referenzierungen, die sich auf eine leere Zelle beziehen. Das "Wortdistanz" Muster sucht mit Hilfe des Levenshtein Algorithmus nach Tippfehlern.In the 1980s began a wide dissemination of spreadsheets in the industry as a result of the release of spreadsheet-software which allow end-users without programming experience to create and handle spreadsheets. It's inconceivable for most companies to work without spreadsheets. Many studies show that most of these spreadsheets contain errors and as a consequence there are high damages per year. Although there are tools for spreadsheets, they are rarely used in the industry because of conceptual restrictions. Because of that the Spreadsheet Inspection Framework was developed at the University Stuttgart as part of two finished diploma thesis and two finished bachelor thesis. The objective of the Spreadsheet Inspection Framework is it to red-flag errors with the help of static and dynamic tests, which can be developed and configurated on their one. In this Thesis smell patterns were developed to enhance the static inspections of the Spreadsheet Inspection Framework. The smell pattern "Einer unter Anderen" recognizes schemata and cells which goes against it. "Separate Mehrfachreferenzierung in Formeln" shows errors at the creating of formulas. "Eingaben an nicht berücksichtigten Stellen" recognizes false and missing references. Furthermore it perceives values which were set into a false cell. The smell pattern "Referenzierung auf null-Werte" searches for references that point to a null value. The "Wortdistanz" pattern searches on the basis of the Levenshtein algorithm for typing errors