Which aspects of quality are part of quality assurance in project development?

• A. Inspecting finished products only
• B. Reducing costs only
• C. Customer satisfaction
• D. The attempt to prevent defects and the process by which quality is measured

Answer: (D)

Quality assurance focuses on preventing defects by establishing and following defined development processes and by measuring quality throughout those processes. This proactive approach ensures quality is built into the work from the start, using standards, audits, and metrics to verify that the process itself is capable of producing a quality product. That is why the option describing the attempt to prevent defects and the way quality is measured best captures what QA is about.

Inspecting finished products only is more about quality control, which checks the outcome after work is done. Reducing costs only isn’t central to QA, since it targets cost reduction rather than ensuring quality processes are in place. Customer satisfaction is an important objective of a project, but it’s the result of good quality processes, not the definition of quality assurance itself.