Measurement Uncertainty, Traceavility, and the GUM

This article has given an overview of some of the issues involved when considering the accuracy of measurements. The concept of uncertainty of measurement has been advocated as a reliable metric when assessing the quality of a measurement. This is because the "true value" of any measurement quantity is, at best, hard to find, whereas the uncertainty can almost always be quantified. A measurement result that includes a statement about the uncertainty and its confidence interval, or coverage factor, therefore is of far greater value to all concerned, whether this is in science, engineering, commerce, industry, or regulation. The GUM (Guides to the Expression of Uncertainty Measurement) was also tackled and case studies were presented.