You might think that well-made measuring instruments should give you the right answers, but the ‘true value’ of a measurement is something you cannot obtain.

So for every measurement — however good — there is always some doubt about the measured value. The technical term for the size of this margin of doubt is ‘measurement uncertainty’.

This course has been designed to give you an understanding of measurement uncertainty in a visual way without any equations. We will discuss sources of uncertainty, standard deviation, standard uncertainty, expanded uncertainty and more. This course consists of three modules:

• Module 1: Defining measurement uncertainty
• Module 2: Concepts behind uncertainty calculations
• Module 3: Making decisions based on measurement

Learners who successfully complete the course and assessment will receive an NPL Certificate of Completion.

This course is part of our Measurement Uncertainty learning pathway. We recommend that learners complete this course before enrolling in ‘Understanding Uncertainty Budgets’ or ‘Understanding and Evaluating Measurement Uncertainty’.