1. A method of evaluating a plurality of welds performed by an automated electric arc welder under substantially the same conditions and according to substantially the same arc welding process by monitoring the automated electric arc welder as the automated electric arc welder performs the plurality of welds according to the arc welding process by creating actual welding parameters between an advancing wire and a workpiece, said arc welding process controlled by command signals to a power supply of said welder, said method comprising: during each weld: (a) generating a series of rapidly repeating wave shapes, each wave shape constituting a weld cycle with a cycle time; (b) dividing said wave shapes into states; (c) measuring a selected weld parameter occurring in one of said states at an interrogation rate over a period of time to obtain a data set for said selected weld parameter; (d) for each period of time, calculating a quality value for said selected weld parameter from said data set; (e) comparing each quality value to an expected quality value to determine if a difference between said quality value and said expected quality value exceeds a predetermined threshold; (f) if said difference exceeds said threshold, weighting said quality value with a magnitude weight based on said difference, and weighting said quality value with a time contribution weight based on a time contribution of said state to its wave shape; and (g) using all of said quality values, including any weighted quality values, obtained during said welding process to determine a quality score for said weld.