Defect content estimation for two reviewers

Estimation of the defect content is important to enable quality control throughout the software development process. Capture-recapture methods and curve fitting methods have been suggested as tools to estimate the defect content after a review. The methods are highly reliant on the quality of the data. If the number of reviewers is fairly small, it becomes difficult or even impossible to get reliable estimates. This paper presents a comprehensive study of estimates based on two reviewers, using real data from reviews. Three experience-based defect content estimation methods are evaluated vs. methods that use data only from the current review. Some models are possible to distinguish from each other in terms of statistical significance. In order to gain an even better understanding, the best models are compared subjectively. It is concluded that the experience-based methods provide some good opportunities to estimate the defect content after a review.