Verification, Validation and Test Data

Data Validation and Verification

It is very important that data is entered correctly. Validation and verification are both ways of checking the

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data that has been entered into a computer.
Validation

When you are entering data into a database or spreadsheet, it is vital that the data is as accurate as
possible.

Validation techniques can be used to try to reduce the number of errors in the data being entered.

The validation is performed by the computer at the point when you enter data. It checks the data against
the set of validation rules which you set up when developing your new database or spreadsheet system.

DEFINITION: An automatic computer check to ensure that the data entered is sensible, reasonable and
allowable.

It is critical that you understand what this definition means and can repeat it when asked in an examination
question.

Students regularly say in exam answers that ‘validation checks that the data is correct’. It does NOT!! If you
enter ‘Smithe’ instead of ‘Smith’ or ‘07/08/23’ instead of ‘08/07/23’ no amount of validation in the world
will pick up that human error.

So while validation can help to reduce the number of errors when entering data, it cannot stop them – be
very clear about that.

Types of Validation

• Range check – Checks that the value of a number is between an upper value and a lower value.
• Length check – Checks that the data entered is a reasonable number or an exact number of characters.
• Type check – Checks that the data entered is of a given data type.
• Presence check – Checks to ensure that some data has been entered and the value has not been left
blank.
• Format check – Checks that the characters entered conform to a pre-defined pattern.

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 Verification, Validation and Test Data
Verification

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It was mentioned earlier that validation cannot make sure data that you enter is correct, it can only check
that it is sensible, reasonable and allowable. However, it is important that the data in your database is as
accurate as possible.

Verification can be used to help make sure that the data in your database contains as few mistakes as
possible.

DEFINITION: A check to ensure that the data entered exactly matches the original source.

It can be done in a number of ways:

Double Entry – The data is entered twice and compared to ensure both entries are the same.

Think about when you choose a new password, you have to type it in twice. This lets the computer check if
you have typed it exactly the same both times and not made a mistake. It verifies that the first version is
correct by matching it against the second version.

Whilst this can help to identify many mistakes, it is not ideal for large amounts of data.

• It would could take a person a lot of time to enter the data twice.
• They could enter the same mistake twice and so it wouldn’t get picked up.
• You would end up with two copies of the data.

Screen/visual check – A manual check to ensure the data on the screen is the same as the form.

This save having to enter the data twice. It can help pick up errors where data has been entered incorrectly
or transposed. However, it isn’t always that easy to keep moving your eyes back and forth between a
monitor and a paper copy.

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How to suggest and apply suitable test data
In order to determine whether a solution is working as it should, it needs to be tested. Usually before a

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whole system is tested each sub-system is tested separately.
Algorithms written in pseudocode or as flowcharts can be tested by a person working through them using
any data that is required and seeing what the result is. Computer programs can be tested by running them
on a computer using any data that is required and seeing what result is output. However, in order to test a
solution thoroughly it may need to be worked through several times with different sets of test data.
Test data ensures that an algorithm works as expected, completing all parts of the solution with no errors.
It is used with trace tables to check pseudocode and flowcharts work as expected. Sets of test data are
used with programs to ensure outputs are as expected.
Normal
Test data that is accepted and the algorithm is expected to work with.
In order to prove that program or algorithm solutions do what they are supposed to do, a set of test data
should be used that the program would normally be expected to work with, together with the result(s) that
are expected from that data. The type of test data used to do this is called normal data. Normal data should
be used to work through the solution to find the actual result(s) and see if they are the same as the expected
result(s).
Abnormal/erroneous
Test data that is rejected by the algorithm as not suitable.
Solutions also need to be tested to prove that they do not do what they are supposed not to do. In order to
do this, test data should be chosen that would be rejected by the solution as not suitable, if the solution is
working properly. This type of test data is called abnormal test data. (It is also sometimes called erroneous
test data.)
Extreme
The largest and smallest values that normal data can take.
When testing algorithms with numerical values, sometimes only a given range of values should be allowed.
For example, percentage marks should only be in the range 0 to 100. Our algorithm above should be tested
with extreme data. Extreme data are the largest and smallest values that normal data can take.
Boundary
At each boundary two values are required; one value is accepted and the other value is rejected.
This is used to establish where the largest and smallest values occur. At each boundary two values are
required: one value is accepted and the other value is rejected.

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