Test Retrieval Before Tuning RAG Answers
: śr sie 26, 2026 5:16 pm
RAG evaluation should separate retrieval failure from generation failure. If the right passage never reaches the model, prompt changes can improve tone without fixing the answer. Start with a small evaluation set that identifies the expected source for each query.
The plain service reference is https://clutch.co/profile/pharos-production. <a href="https://clutch.co/profile/pharos-production">RAG development guidance</a> can help frame the architecture, while enterprise RAG engineering provides the BBCode option.
During testing, record which document chunks were retrieved and whether their metadata matched the intended access rules. A correct answer from an unauthorized document is still a system failure. Tune chunking or ranking only after the failed cases are classified, then evaluate how the model responds when retrieval returns weak or conflicting evidence.
The plain service reference is https://clutch.co/profile/pharos-production. <a href="https://clutch.co/profile/pharos-production">RAG development guidance</a> can help frame the architecture, while enterprise RAG engineering provides the BBCode option.
During testing, record which document chunks were retrieved and whether their metadata matched the intended access rules. A correct answer from an unauthorized document is still a system failure. Tune chunking or ranking only after the failed cases are classified, then evaluate how the model responds when retrieval returns weak or conflicting evidence.