Statistics in Metrology: International Key Comparisons and Interlaboratory Studies

Stochastic modeling and analysis of international key compar isons (interlaboratory comparisons) pose several fundamental questions for statistical methodology. A key comparison (KC) is specifically designed to derive the key comparison reference value and to assess conformance of cal ibrations by participating national metrology laboratories at a few, “key”, settings for a particular measurement process. An approach to the statis tical study of key comparisons data is proposed using a model taken from meta-analysis. This model leads to a class of weighted means estimators for the consensus value and to a method of assessing the uncertainty of the resulting estimates.