Vocabulary for Describing the Metrological Quality of a Measurement Procedure

Laboratory medicine is characteristic in having practitioners with various educational backgrounds.Current terms have therefore not been chosen according to a systematic plan and seldomly with adequate knowledge of modern metrological and statistical terminology work.The following vocabulary comprises sections of salient concepts related to quality, metrology, statistics, metrological performance characteristics, and reference measurement systems.When a definition is given with a reference in brackets, the sign "="indicates that the definition is taken verbatim, the sign "M" shows that editorial differences have been introduced for consistency, and no sign means that the reference is a source in general.If no reference is given, the definition is materially different from the set of references given att the end of the vocabulary.The notes are not necessarily taken directly from any source of the definitionunless followed by a reference in [ 1, which then also applies to the definition unless it has a reference already.It should be emphasized that definitions of concepts and their terms are continuously being developed and changed so that it is always useful to consult the latest editions of relevant documents from standards bodies.The terminological evolution also means that disagreement may exist between the standards or recommendations from different organizations and even from different committees within a given body.i