ISTQB Defect Management Process 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which defect attribute describes the observable incorrect behavior seen by the tester, as opposed to the underlying cause?
- Root cause
- Symptom (Correct answer)
- Impact
- Priority
Correct answer: Symptom
The symptom is the observable incorrect behavior, while the root cause is the underlying reason the defect exists.
Question 2: In ISTQB defect management, what is the purpose of 'defect clustering'?
- Grouping defects by severity to prioritize fixes
- Observing that a small number of modules tend to contain most defects (Correct answer)
- Combining duplicate defects into single reports
- Scheduling defects for batch processing
Correct answer: Observing that a small number of modules tend to contain most defects
Defect clustering refers to the phenomenon where a small number of modules contain the majority of defects, guiding focused testing effort.
Question 3: A defect report includes the field 'actual result.' What information should this field contain?
- The expected behavior defined in the requirements
- What the system did when the test was executed (Correct answer)
- The fix applied by the developer
- The tester's assessment of business impact
Correct answer: What the system did when the test was executed
The actual result documents what the system produced during test execution, contrasted with the expected result to demonstrate the defect.
Question 4: A defect is marked as 'deferred.' Which of the following best explains this status?
- The defect has been fixed but not yet verified
- The defect is acknowledged but repair is postponed to a future release (Correct answer)
- The defect report is awaiting triage review
- The defect cannot be reproduced
Correct answer: The defect is acknowledged but repair is postponed to a future release
A deferred defect is one that the team has decided to fix in a later release rather than the current one.
Question 5: Which role is typically responsible for initially assigning priority to a defect in ISTQB defect management?
- Developer
- Project manager or product owner (Correct answer)
- Tester who found the defect
- Release manager
Correct answer: Project manager or product owner
Priority is a business decision typically made by the project manager or product owner, reflecting business impact rather than technical severity.
Question 6: What distinguishes a 'defect' from an 'error' in ISTQB terminology?
- An error is in the code; a defect is in a document
- An error is a human mistake; a defect is a flaw introduced into the work product by that mistake (Correct answer)
- A defect causes failures; an error is a near-miss that does not
- An error is found in production; a defect is found in testing
Correct answer: An error is a human mistake; a defect is a flaw introduced into the work product by that mistake
In ISTQB, an error is the human action that produces a defect; the defect is the resulting flaw in the work product.
Question 7: During defect triage, the team decides a defect is 'not a defect.' What is the most likely reason?
- The defect has already been fixed by another change
- The reported behavior is actually correct per the current requirements (Correct answer)
- The defect is too minor to warrant a fix
- The defect cannot be reproduced on the test environment
Correct answer: The reported behavior is actually correct per the current requirements
A report is classified as 'not a defect' when the observed behavior conforms to the requirements and is therefore working as intended.
ISTQB Defect Management Process 2
Which defect attribute describes the observable incorrect behavior seen by the tester, as opposed to the underlying cause?