What are the differences among inspections, walkthroughs and reviews

In the methods of quality control, inspection is a mechanism that has proven extremely effective for the specific objective of product verification in many development activities. It is a structured method of quality control, as it must follow a specified series of steps that define what can be inspected, when it can be inspected, who can inspect it, what preparation is needed for the inspection, how the inspection is to be conducted, what data is to be collected, and what the follow-up to be the inspection is. Thus the result of inspections on a project has the performance of close procedural control and repeatability. However, reviews and walkthroughs have less structured procedures. They can have many purposes and formats. Reviews can be used to form decisions and resolve issues of design and development. They can also be used as a forum for information swapping or brainstorming. Walkthroughs are used for the resolution of design or implementation issues. Both methods can range from being formalized and following a predefined set of procedures to completely informal. Thus they lacks the close procedural control and repeatability.