CRITERION D – TESTING AND EVALUATION

E(i) Justifies a testing strategy to measure the success of the prototype.

A testing strategy comprises of a number of appropriate testing methods that will generate data to measure the success of a prototype.

• Design a testing strategy that can test against more than one specification point at a time.

• Testing strategy would include, user trial (photographs, etc),  user research (interviews/questionnaires etc) , user observations (photographs, etc),  usability trials, field trial, expert appraisal, performance (physical) tests, risk assessment, environmental tests/LCA, etc.

• Be sure the variety of tests will produce a balance of qualitative versus quantitative data.

• Justify why this testing strategy is appropriate. What is it you are looking for.

• This could be presented in the form of a table.

The evidence for achievement against this strand should be presented in approximately one A4 page or the equivalent, and approximately 200 words.

E (ii) Evaluates the success of the prototype against the design specification.

Strengths and weaknesses of the prototype(s) need to be based on qualitative and quantitative data.

• Identify strengths and weaknesses by testing the prototype against the design specification in criterion A.

  • Cost constraints.

  • Environmental requirements.

  • Size constraints.

  • Safety considerations.

  • Performance requirements and constraints.

  • Materials requirements.

  • Manufacturing requirements.

  • Any extras that pertain explicitly for you design.

• Evaluate against all design specifications.

• Where possible strengths and weaknesses should be measureable.

• Really look for weaknesses otherwise it will be difficult to complete improvements.

• The data collected could be presented int he form of a table, graph/chart, illustration, write-up, statistics or graphical figures etc.

The evidence for achievement against this strand should be presented in approximately two A4 pages or the equivalent, and approximately 700 words.

E (iii) Demonstrates how the prototype could be improved, considering how individual improvements affect the design as a whole.

Recommendations are presented to address weaknesses identified through evaluation against the design specification.

• Suggest improvements to address weaknesses identified through evaluation against marketing and design specifications.

• If the final product does not meet any of the marketing or design specifications then suggestions need to be made.

• Suggested modification should be valid and feasible.

• Improvements could be in the form of revised specifications, annotated (meaningful) photographs, revised graphical models (annotated (meaningful) drawings/sketches, CAD, orthographic drawings).

• The improvements should attempt to bring the product up to specification.

The evidence for achievement against this strand should be presented in approximately two A4 pages or the equivalent, and approximately 250 words.