Abstract
Historically, research and development efforts, and testing and evaluation (T&E), activities, were separate and distinct from each other. At that time, the goals of T&E were predominantly two:
To determine whether or not the system met requirements To determine whether or not the system “worked”?
Testing focused on factors that influence task performance. Evaluation criteria were often specified in general design guidelines and specifications, or in system requirements documents. And, the majority of T&E efforts were expended in conjunction with military systems. Today, development, testing, and evaluation are routinely performed as part of the concurrent engineering process. Research, if conducted at all, is likely to be focused on situation-specific issues. The previously stated T&E goals are still valid, but T&E practitioners may also be expected to provide design recommendations. Testing of task performance is still a high priority, but testing may also be performed to assess usability, workload, situation awareness, safety, and acceptance by operational and maintenance personnel. The beginning of a new millennium is an appropriate time to examine this redefined problem space. The presentations by our four panelists will illuminate some of these changes and describe how we may react to them.
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