what is the purpose of testing a program with sample data
Test data Some data may be used in a confirmatory way, typically to verify that a given set of input to a given function produces some expected result. Other data may be used in order to challenge the ability of the program to respond to unusual, extreme, exceptional, or unexpected input.
p-value In statistical hypothesis testing, the p-value or probability value is the probability for a given statistical model that, when the null hypothesis is true, the statistical summary (such as the sample mean difference between two compared groups) would be the same as or of greater magnitude than the actual observed results.[1] The use of p-values in statistical hypothesis testing is common in many fields of research[2] such as physics, economics, finance, political science, psychology,[3] biology, criminal justice, criminology, and sociology.[4] Their misuse has been a matter of considerable controversy.