Concept Tests

Concept Tests
 are short, informal, targeted tests that are
administered during class to help instructors
gauge whether students understand key
concepts.
 can be used both to assess students’ prior
knowledge (coming into a course or unit) or
their understanding of content in the current
course.
Usually these tests consist of one to five
multiple-choice questions.
Students are asked to select the best answer and
submit it by raising their hands, holding up a
color card associated with a response option, or
using a remote control device to key in their
response
 The primary purpose is to get a snapshot of the
current understanding of the class, not of an
individual student
 concept tests are usually ungraded or very low-
stakes.
 most valuable in large classes where it is difficult
to assess student understanding in real time
 Concept Testing is how people, without
prompting, interpret a unclear idea for a new
product or service.
 Concept testing is most often used in concept
development to test the success of a new product
idea before it is marketed.
 Concept analysis or concepts are often used as
one step in the process of providing “proof of
concept.”
Potential consumers are involved to provide their
reactions to written statements, images or
graphics, or actual implementations of the basic
idea for the product.
Concept testing is most often a Go/No Go
screening that serves to kill those concepts
that have very little potential.
Concept testing and development provides the
direction and necessary
guidance selectively communicate to
identify or service
product and benefits, uses, packaging,key
advertising, sales approaches, product
information, distribution, and pricing.
Creating a concept test
 begin with a clear understanding of the
knowledge and skills that you want your
students to acquire
 The questions should probe a student's
comprehension or application of a concept
rather than factual recall.
Concept test questions often describe a
problem, event, or situation.
Types of questions :
 asking students to predict the outcome of an
event (What would happen in this
experiment?)
 asking students to apply rules or principles to
new situations (e.g., Which concept is
relevant here?)
 asking students to solve a problem using a
known equation or select a procedure to
complete a new task (e.g., What procedure
would be appropriate to solve this problem?)
Some examples of concept test
questions:
 Which of the following best
describes…
 Which is the best method for…
 If the value of X was changed to…
 Which of the following is the best explanation
for…
 Which of the following is another
example of…
 What is the major problem with…
 What would happen if…
Implementing concept tests
 at the beginning of class to gauge students’
understanding of readings or homework
 intermittently in class to test students’ comprehension.
 Based on how well students perform, the instructor
may decide to move on in the lecture or pause to
review a difficult concept
 give students the chance to respond to a question
individually, then put them in pairs or small groups to
compare and discuss their answers
 After a short period of time, the students vote again
for the answer they think is correct.
 This gives students the opportunity to articulate their
reasoning for a particular answer.
Types of Concept Testing
 New Product Concepts
Product Modifications and Upgrades
Migration Paths
Product Usability and Serviceability
Pricing and Incentives
New Product Concepts
 Which benefits are most important to
customers and which features are most likely
to lead to the fulfillment of that promise.
Features can be categorized into those which
are “need to haves” vs. “nice to haves.”
Customer need must identified and
prioritized be for development and
advertising. product
Product Modifications and Upgrades
Modifications and upgrades can reformulate
and add new life to existing products and
services.
Again, identifying the optimal bundle of
features is a priority.
Differentiating those features that are “need to
haves” vs. “nice to haves” is critical in
creating products or services that are truly
“New and Improved,” “New Release,” and
“Upgrade” worthy.
Migration Paths
 Many products and services offer upgrade or
migration paths.
 For the customer, it is a reflection of a need for
the next level of sophistication.
Understanding the key features and benefits is
critical in mapping consumer needs to the
likelihood of upgrading an existing product or
adopting a new technology.
 Our experts will help you answer such critical
questions as “Do benefits outweigh the costs and
challenges of changing?” Features, benefits,
brands, image, costs, and training are but a few
factors that must be considered.
Product Usability and Serviceability
 The most effective concept tests assess the
use experience of a specific product or service
and determine how that experience can be
improved.
 This research can focus on a variety of areas
— ease of use and similarity to current usage
patterns, the ability to adapt and use critical
feature implementations, and the congruency
with current image, usage patterns, and
service provisions.
Pricing and Incentives
 No one underestimates the importance of
price expectations in new product adoptions.
Price, incentives, bundling, cross product tie-
ins, and cost mitigating factors such as
warranties all change price perceptions and
perceptions of value.
Key Components of Concept Tests
 Needs Analysis
Habits and Uses Analysis
 Concept Fulfillment and Preference
Testing
Decision Process Assessment
 Needs Analysis
 Identify the core student needs that lead to
acceptance of new educational product concepts
and the new educational concepts and ideas that
are formulated.
 Habits and Uses Analysis
 Identify the core student habits and uses of the
educational product for purposes of understanding
and assessment.
 Habits and uses are critical in understanding the
adoption of new educational product concepts and
the new educational concepts and ideas that are
formulated.
 Concept Fulfillment and Preference
Testing
Evaluate the educational product category as a
focus for fulfilling educational market needs.
Inherent in this concept test and fulfillment
analysis is tying benefit fulfillment and needs
to the positive elements (benefits) and negative
elements (inhibitors) that direct the purchase
educational evaluation process.
Decision Process Assessment
 The educational decision and purchasing
process, the key influencers and decision
makers are all considered as part of the
concept test.
 Each educational purchaser, decision maker,
and influencer involved in the purchase
process relies on different information sources
to establish the credibility of the educational
product, integration process, benefits, and
values actually received.
 Roadmap of Development Priorities: Development
plans are canceled for new features because of low
priority to educational customers and high associated
development costs.
 Scheduling and Launch Priorities: Based on the
concept test, educational product is given new priority
for launch because of demonstrated greater market
potential.
 The concept test identifies not only market potential,
but avoids a potential failure that could have been
launched.
 Market Potential: New educational product uses are
discovered through a new educational product concept
test that could double the market potential.
 Product Superiority: New features are added to
the existing product to meet the demands of
customers before the competition responds.
 The proposed features of greatest value to the
customer receive top priority for development
and implementation.
Your product or service maintains the
competitive advantage by further distancing
itself from the competition.
 Concept tests provide the customer feedback you
need to prioritize and implement ahead of the
competition.
 Eliminate Product Deficiency: The currently
marketed product is evaluated and product
performance tests reveal flaws in the current design
and implementation.
 This information is integrated and verified in new
concept tests.
 Promotion Planning: Concept tests combined with
market analysis help you to understand who is buying,
where they can be reached, and most importantly,
what message motivates them to respond to your
product.
 Increase Profitability: Concept testing shows that we
are delivering the best value in the market and have
room for a 10% increase in price for the new product.