Effects of error factors and prior incremental practice on spreadsheet error detection: an experimental study

Previous research has shown that spreadsheet errors are common and are not easily detected. In this paper, an experiment was conducted to examine the rate of detection of both quantitative errors and qualitative errors in two domain-free spreadsheets. A detailed list and explanation of the types of common spreadsheet errors are presented. Results showed that the ability to detect various types of errors appears to be dependent on the type and prominence of errors as well as prior incremental practice with spreadsheet error detection. Implications of the findings are discussed.