43
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
L. Mari et al., Measurement across the Sciences, Springer Series in
Measurement Science and Technology,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65558-7_3
Chapter 3
Technical and cultural contexts for
measurement systems
3.1 Introduction
As presented in the previous chapter, the characterization of measurement as a process specified by a procedure is given in terms of a set of necessary conditions. This
description is so fundamental that it provides a very abstract picture of what measurement actually is, and so, it now needs to be expanded and placed in a more
concrete context. This is the purpose of this chapter, which develops along three
parallel lines.
The first line of development starts from the acknowledgment that the empirical
nature of the properties to be measured, and of the process of measuring them generally, prevents exact evaluations. On this basis we elaborate the requirement that
measurement should produce information about both values of the measurand and
the quality of those reported values. This examination of measurement quality must
begin with the features of the measuring instrument itself: the empirical nature of
the instrument implies unavoidably nonideal behavior that affects the quality of the
results it generates: the accuracy of the instrument is a key (though not the only)
source of the errors and the uncertainties in the results.
The second line of development starts from the acknowledgment that measurement is a relational process—in the usual case for physical quantities it compares
the measurand and the chosen unit—and embeds it into the scientific, technical, and
organizational system that is the foundation for this relationship. This is made possible through the definition and the dissemination of measurement standards
embodying the relevant reference properties. Measuring instruments are calibrated
by means of such standards.
The third line of development complements this operational context with a conceptual one, by tracing from a historical perspective the common position that only
quantitative properties are measurable. The outcome of our analysis is that the
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
L. Mari et al., Measurement across the Sciences, Springer Series in
Measurement Science and Technology,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65558-7_3
Chapter 3
Technical and cultural contexts for
measurement systems
3.1 Introduction
As presented in the previous chapter, the characterization of measurement as a process specified by a procedure is given in terms of a set of necessary conditions. This
description is so fundamental that it provides a very abstract picture of what measurement actually is, and so, it now needs to be expanded and placed in a more
concrete context. This is the purpose of this chapter, which develops along three
parallel lines.
The first line of development starts from the acknowledgment that the empirical
nature of the properties to be measured, and of the process of measuring them generally, prevents exact evaluations. On this basis we elaborate the requirement that
measurement should produce information about both values of the measurand and
the quality of those reported values. This examination of measurement quality must
begin with the features of the measuring instrument itself: the empirical nature of
the instrument implies unavoidably nonideal behavior that affects the quality of the
results it generates: the accuracy of the instrument is a key (though not the only)
source of the errors and the uncertainties in the results.
The second line of development starts from the acknowledgment that measurement is a relational process—in the usual case for physical quantities it compares
the measurand and the chosen unit—and embeds it into the scientific, technical, and
organizational system that is the foundation for this relationship. This is made possible through the definition and the dissemination of measurement standards
embodying the relevant reference properties. Measuring instruments are calibrated
by means of such standards.
The third line of development complements this operational context with a conceptual one, by tracing from a historical perspective the common position that only
quantitative properties are measurable. The outcome of our analysis is that the