Defect Root Cause Analysis for Test Analysts

1. A memory leak occurs because developers did not follow coding standards. What type of cause is this?

Technical cause

Process cause

Environmental cause

Hardware cause

2. Which best practice prevents recurring defects of the same type?

Running more test cases

Documenting root causes and implementing systemic process improvements

Testing longer

Increasing team size

3. A defect occurs only when running on Linux but not Windows. What should be examined first?

Test case design

Platform-specific code, libraries, and environmental differences

Developer experience

Test tool compatibility

4. In defect analysis, which scenario requires investigation into code architecture?

A button label is misspelled

The same defect appears in multiple unrelated modules

A test case name is unclear

Documentation is incomplete

5. What is the primary difference between 'apparent cause' and 'root cause'?

Apparent cause is what you observe; root cause is why it really happened

Apparent cause is more important

They are identical

Root cause is always obvious

6. Which type of defect typically requires the deepest root cause investigation?

Cosmetic UI issues

Intermittent race conditions and timing issues

Typos in error messages

Missing menu items

7. A defect is traced to inadequate requirements specification. Which prevention strategy applies?

Increase testing hours

Improve requirements review and validation processes

Hire more developers

Use more tools

8. In root cause analysis, what does 'verification' of the root cause mean?

Confirming the fix works

Testing that removing the cause prevents the defect

Getting management approval

Writing a test case

9. When analyzing a defect, which information is MOST critical to collect first?

Who discovered it

Steps to reproduce, expected behavior, and actual behavior

Estimated cost to fix

Which sprint it should be fixed in

10. What is the main advantage of using failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA)?

It predicts future defects before they occur in production

It eliminates the need for testing

It reduces documentation

It speeds up development

11. What is the primary goal of root cause analysis in software testing?

Identify the immediate symptom of a defect

Determine the underlying reason why a defect occurred

Document all test cases that failed

Assign blame to team members

12. Which statement about systemic root causes is correct?

They affect only one test case

They represent flaws in processes or systems affecting multiple defects

They cannot be prevented

They are always obvious

13. In causal chain analysis, what is the relationship between consecutive defects in a chain?

Each defect is independent

Each earlier defect enables or triggers the next one

They occur simultaneously

They are unrelated events

14. A defect appears in production after passing all tests. Which investigation step should come first?

Blame the test team

Reproduce the defect and gather detailed information

Immediately release a patch

Ignore it as environmental

15. Which tool helps prioritize defects by identifying the 'vital few' that cause most problems?

Pareto analysis

Monte Carlo simulation

Regression testing

Load balancing

16. Fault tree analysis uses which logical operators to map failure paths?

AND and OR gates

IF and THEN statements

CASE and SWITCH

WHILE and FOR loops

17. What distinguishes root cause from contributing cause in defect analysis?

Root cause occurs first; contributing cause occurs later

Root cause is the fundamental reason; contributing causes are secondary factors

They are the same thing with different names

Contributing cause is more important

18. The Ishikawa diagram categorizes potential causes into main branches. Which is NOT a typical category?

People

Process

Profit

Methods

19. In the '5 Why' technique, what is the typical number of iterations needed to reach root cause?

Exactly 5 iterations always

Between 3 and 7 iterations depending on context

Only 1 iteration

At least 10 iterations

20. Which technique uses a tree structure to trace defects back to their source causes?

Fishbone diagram

Fault tree analysis