A large-scale comparative study of beta testers and regular
users

J 2018

A large-scale comparative study of beta testers and regular users

ŠŤAVOVÁ, Vlasta, Lenka DĚDKOVÁ, Martin UKROP and Václav MATYÁŠ

Basic information

Original name

A large-scale comparative study of beta testers and regular users

Authors

ŠŤAVOVÁ, Vlasta (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution), Lenka DĚDKOVÁ (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Martin UKROP (703 Slovakia, belonging to the institution) and Václav MATYÁŠ (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution)

Edition

Communications of the ACM, New York, NY, USA, ACM, 2018, 0001-0782

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Článek v odborném periodiku

Field of Study

10201 Computer sciences, information science, bioinformatics

Country of publisher

United States of America

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

References:

URL

Impact factor

Impact factor: 5.410

RIV identification code

RIV/00216224:14330/18:00102080

Organization unit

Faculty of Informatics

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3173570

UT WoS

000423882400022

Keywords in English

beta testers; regular users; large-scale comparison; security software

Abstract

V originále

In this paper, we investigate whether beta testers represent regular users well enough to allow for the extrapolation of testing data to standard users. We have investigated records of beta testers and standard users of home security solution developed by the IT security software provider ESET. With more than 600 000 participants from more than 180 countries, we present what we believe to be the first large-scale comparison between regular users and beta testers. We compared several aspects of both populations, such as hardware, operating system, country of origin, all taken from system data. Other attributes, such as age, gender, privacy perception and computer proficiency self-evaluation, were available thanks to a user questionnaire. We conclude that–in our study–beta users represent regular users well in terms of hardware and operating system in large-scale beta testing. However, populations differ significantly in the distribution of users and testers between countries. We also provide general recommendations for selecting and/or analyzing beta testers.

Links

MUNI/M/1052/2013, interní kód MU

Name: Experimentální výzkum chování uživatelů ICT v oblasti bezpečnosti perspektivou sociálních věd, práva a informatiky

Investor: Masaryk University, INTERDISCIPLINARY - Interdisciplinary research projects

Citovat

ŠŤAVOVÁ, Vlasta, Lenka DĚDKOVÁ, Martin UKROP and Václav MATYÁŠ. A large-scale comparative study of beta testers and regular users. Communications of the ACM. New York, NY, USA: ACM, 2018, vol. 61, No 2, p. 64-71. ISSN 0001-0782. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3173570.

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   author = {Šťavová, Vlasta and Dědková, Lenka and Ukrop, Martin and Matyáš, Václav},
   article_location = {New York, NY, USA},
   article_number = {2},
   doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3173570},
   keywords = {beta testers; regular users; large-scale comparison; security software},
   language = {eng},
   issn = {0001-0782},
   journal = {Communications of the ACM},
   title = {A large-scale comparative study of beta testers and regular users},
   url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3173570},
   volume = {61},
   year = {2018}
}

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N2  - In this paper, we investigate whether beta testers represent regular users well enough to allow for the extrapolation of testing data to standard users. We have investigated records of beta testers and standard users of home security solution developed by the IT security software provider ESET. With more than 600 000 participants from more than 180 countries, we present what we believe to be the first large-scale comparison between regular users and beta testers. We compared several aspects of both populations, such as hardware, operating system, country of origin, all taken from system data. Other attributes, such as age, gender, privacy perception and computer proficiency self-evaluation, were available thanks to a user questionnaire. We conclude that–in our study–beta users represent regular users well in terms of hardware and operating system in large-scale beta testing. However, populations differ significantly in the distribution of users and testers between countries. We also provide general recommendations for selecting and/or analyzing beta testers.
ER  -

ŠŤAVOVÁ, Vlasta, Lenka DĚDKOVÁ, Martin UKROP and Václav MATYÁŠ. A large-scale comparative study of beta testers and regular users. \textit{Communications of the ACM}. New York, NY, USA: ACM, 2018, vol.~61, No~2, p.~64-71. ISSN~0001-0782. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3173570.

Detailed Information on Publication Record