ERRORS IN MEASUREMENT
An error or fault can be described as the disparity between the calculated worth and the exact
worth. It is also defined as the difference between True vale and the measured value.
Types of Errors in Measurement
The errors in measurement may happen from the various sources which are generally
categorized into the following types.
1. Systematic Errors
2. Gross Errors
3. Random Errors
1. Systematic Errors
Systematic errors are errors reported consistently over time and/or between responding units.
Systematic error means that your measurements of the same thing will vary in predictable
ways: every measurement will differ from the true measurement in the same direction, and
even by the same amount in some cases.
They are further classified as
• Observational Errors
• Environmental Errors
• Instrumental Errors
Observational Errors
• This type of error is caused due to wrong observation.
The observational errors may occur due to the fault study of the instrument reading, and the
sources of these errors are many. For instance, the indicator of a voltmeter retunes a little
over the surface of the scale. As a result, a fault happens except the line of the image of the
witness is accurately above the indicator. To reduce the parallax error extremely precise
meters are offered with reflected scales.
Environmental Errors
• Environmental errors will happen due to the outside situation of the measuring
instruments.
These types of errors mostly happen due to the temperature result, force, moisture, dirt,
vibration otherwise because of the electrostatic field or magnetic.
Instrumental Errors
Instrumental errors will occur due to wrong construction or calibration of the measuring
instruments. It also happens due to some of the following reasons
• An inherent limitation of Devices
• Abuse of Apparatus
• Effect of Loading
2. Random Errors
An error is considered random if the value of what is being measured sometimes goes up or
sometimes goes down. A very simple example is our blood pressure. Even if someone is
healthy, it is normal that their blood pressure does not remain exactly the same every time it is
measured.
3. Gross Errors
• This category basically takes into account human oversight and other mistakes while
reading, recording and the readings.
Gross errors can be defined as physical errors in analysis apparatus or calculating and recording
measurement outcomes. In general, these type of errors will happen throughout the
experiments, wherever the researcher might study or record a worth different from the real one,
possibly due to a reduced view. With human concern, types of errors will predictable, although
they can be estimated and corrected.
