Quality assurance and quality control are two important aspects in quality management system. They often confuse R&D staffs especially scientists at the university who are not familar with the industry and manufacturing. Generally speaking, Quality Assurance (QA) is process oriented and focuses on defect prevention, while Quality Control (QC) is product oriented and focuses on defect identification. Good summary can be found: Difference of QA and QC. In my opinion, QA is to make sure do the thing right then naturally it lead to do the right thing. While QC focuses on investigate if we are doing the right thing.
