The Criteria and Standards of Quality

Résumé du livre

Quite obviously, the criteria and standards of quality are the concrete and detailed representations of the more general concepts which constitute the definition of quality. In that way, this second volume is linked to the first; and it uses the opportunity to judge the criteria by the degree to which they correspond to the more general definitions and to their social purposes. But there is much else besides, particularly concerning the methods for constructing the criteria and the characteristics of the criteria as tools for measurement. Later, all this is gathered into a classification of the criteria that embodies the findings of the earlier chapters, followed by a detailed exposition of what further research remains to be done. A major purpose of this exploration, therefore, was to develop the principles and categories of thought by which the subject matter could be defined, classified, and understood. This was an attempt, in other words, to take some steps, however few or small, toward establishing a science of criteria.