Which statement describes integration testing?

Integration testing primarily focuses on the interactions and interfaces between different subsystems or components of an application. This phase of testing is essential because it helps to ensure that the combined work of these components operates as expected when they are integrated. By validating these interactions, integration testing can uncover issues that may not be evident when each component is tested in isolation, such as incorrect data handling, interface mismatches, or communication failures between modules.

While there are other types of testing that validate specific features or behaviors (like unit testing for individual components or acceptance testing for use cases), the unique purpose of integration testing is to assess the functional correctness and collaboration of multiple parts of the application as they integrate. This makes option A the most accurate descriptor of integration testing.

The other options describe different aspects of software testing. For instance, requiring an automated testing framework does not specifically pertain to integration testing alone, as many types of testing can be automated. Validating an application use case is more aligned with acceptance testing, where the focus is on end-user scenarios. Similarly, validating behavior of individual elements pertains to unit testing, which examines the smallest testable parts of the application in isolation.