Is more beta better? [beta testing]

Designers of performance support systems need to know their users and can get information about users by several sources, including beta testers. Large samples of beta testers are easier to get than large samples of subjects from laboratory testing and field studies. However, sampling bias may yield misleading data from beta testers. The paper discusses an example case of designers and beta testers for an international corporation. Tables present the views of computer software users by two sample groups: designers of performance support systems and beta testers of that company's software.