Setting up a test environment for a list

I'm a SPF admin. who's learning as I go.  I came into SPF after our admin. left suddenly and I got the job with no knowledge of SPF, although I'm learning pretty quickly. 

We've got a corp. site with a Project Request list we're getting to roll out and my boss asked me about a dev./test/QA environment for future changes.  So, this is a request for a "SharePoint For Dummies" level procedure for setting up a test environment for this list and any future lists. 

We've got a test site and I'd like to able migrate between it and our production site. So what I'm looking for is the process by which I could have a Project Request list on our test site that I could be working on (modifying workflows, InfoPath forms, adding/removing fields from the list, etc.) and be able to roll out changes to the production Project Request list without effecting the data in the production Project Request list?