What are the main difference between Validation and Verification in software testing

The terms validation and verification is little bit confusing for most of us. Oftentimes most of us think the terms are same but in reality the terms are different. So to avoid these confusion, here I am giving a brief note for these terms.

Verification is the process of testing the documents of the project, ie testing/verifying the Plan, SRS documents, design specifications, codes and test cases. Here the objective is not to test the actual product, but the specifications to ensure that all the customer requirements are satisfied and we are building the right product. This includes Reviews, Inspections, and Walk-throughs etc.So verification mainly deals with the following steps:

• It is static testing type, through reviews it helps in finding out the defects earlier.
• Helps in finding out the exact location of defect.
• Test cases can prepared during this process.
• Can be done by any person, who can read a specification and determine whether it is correct or not.

Validation is the process of testing the product after the development is over or during the development phases. The actual product testing occurs during this validation. And thus validation is :

• It is a dynamic testing process. ie, testing a product by executing it.
• Helps in finding out the defect only, and not its location.
• Test cases are executed for validation, in order to analyse the conformity of the results obtained to the expected ones.
• This is done by those who have the knowledge to use the delivered product.

I hope the above description was helpful for you.Thank you.