Testing and Design Development Proposals

How long have I got for this section? Due in week commencing 13/3/06
How many marks is this bit worth? 4
How many pages should it occupy? Maximum 3

There’s testing and there’s testing. Switching your product on and off, pressing a few buttons and saying that it sort of works is ‘testing’. Devising a series of experiments in which you test your project under different conditions and then assess how successful it has been, and then taking it to a potential client (young mother, karate judge, music teacher etc) to obtain their opinion is also ‘testing’. One gets you more marks than the other. Guess which one.

If you had to do your project again, what would you change? What was successful and what was a bit of a bodge job? How neatly does your circuit fit into the casing? What is access to the batteries like? Did you use the correct material or would a different type of material be more suitable? Are you pleased with its overall appearance?
If you can bring in the comments of other individuals who you have used to gain feedback; so much the better. ‘43% of potential consumers thought that my project was possibly the ugliest thing they had seen. If I were to redo this project I would improve the aesthetics as shown in the diagram below…’

Test your project against the needs of your consumer. For this you will need to identify key criteria from your specification to test against. For example, the device must detect when the bath is half full and produce an intermittent sound. For each of these criteria plan an appropriate testing method.

You could also conduct an interview with a selection of people from your target market to find out their opinions about your work. This could be conducted through the use of a questionnaire, or simply allowing them to handle the product to see how durable it is. If you have designed and made an educational toy for 4 – 7 year olds, allow them to play with it and observe how they rip it to shreds. Write down your conclusions from your testing, what have you discovered? Have your findings been as predicted?

Suggest possible improvements that could be made to develop your project. This should be in the form of sketches and notes. Identify areas where the design itself could be modified to take into account your findings from your testing. For example: 'There were so many wires that the product barely fitted together properly. As a result, were I to make this product again, I would need to ensure that there was sufficient space for the wires or possibly construct a separate circuit board for the switches.'

You must also state what changes you could make to your manufacturing control system in order to ensure efficient batch production

Your evaluation should be an honest report of your project. Do not try to fudge over areas that you are less pleased with, as you will be able to acquire more marks for commenting on this than ignoring it.