Using Category Partition to Detect Metamorphic Relations

The Category Partition (CP) functional testing method has proven to be useful in various contexts. It begins by identifying parameters and environment conditions on the basis of the function's behaviour. The characteristics/categories of these parameters/environment conditions are identified and partitioned into choices. The choices of a category are mutually exclusive and can be based on input partitioning and boundary value analysis. Thereafter, the choices are combined on the basis of a selection criterion to form test frames. Once input values satisfying the conditions of a test frame's choices are identified, one is equipped with a test case. This paper suggests and demonstrates that those test frames, once equipped with characterizations of output values, i.e., with categories and choices for outputs, can be considered Metamorphic Relations to be used in Metamorphic Testing.