Abstract
In spite of the fundamental importance of the concept ‘measurement’ in the description of our world, there is found an amazing number of very different definitions, even in publications from ISO and IEC, both regarding terminography and selection of characteristics. Of special interest are the choices between relations to single true values or a distribution, inclusion of nominal properties or not, and whether ‘measurement’ is a process or an outcome. These problems should be settled before the production of the fourth edition of the International vocabulary of metrology (VIM), and different possible generic concept diagrams are being discussed.
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Notes
In this text, single quotation marks (‘…’) indicate a concept, double quotation marks (“…”) a term or a quote.
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The author’s thanks are due to the pertinent and helpful comments by the two anonymous reviewers.
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The author is a member of the Joint Committee on Guides in Metrology (JCGM), Working Group 2 (VIM). The opinions expressed in this paper do not necessarily represent the views of this Working Group.
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Dybkaer, R. Definitions of ‘measurement’. Accred Qual Assur 16, 479–482 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00769-011-0808-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00769-011-0808-8