Market Research - Product Testing for Redesigned for Products with Lower Cost

http://www.quirks.com/articles/a2004/20040503.aspx

Cost reduction test designs
When beginning a major cost-reduction initiative, decisions must be made that can have a profound effect on the sensitivity of the design, including:

Blind or branded - Should the product shown to respondents have any identifying labels or logos?
Test environment - What is the physical setting in which respondents will evaluate the product?
User qualifications - What type of respondent do you want evaluating your new product?
Sensitivity of design - How sensitive do you want the design to be to detecting changes in respondent opinion?
Decision rule - What amount of difference in ratings between the original and new product do you consider acceptable?

More details are to be ascertained from different sources on this topic. The topic is of importance to industrial engineers as their efficiency redesigns have to pass these consumer product tests.