Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 6, 2025
09:07
Experimental Research Examining How People Can Cope with Uncertainty Through Soft Haptic Sensations
Published on: September 16, 2015
9.2K
How uncertainty can save measurement from circularity and holism.
1School of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Sydney, Australia.
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science
|May 10, 2021
Summary
This study shows how measuring uncertainty in particle physics prevents circular reasoning. Evaluating measurement uncertainty makes results reliable, even when assumptions are theoretical.
Area of Science:
- Particle Physics
- Epistemology of Science
Background:
- Measurement results in science often rely on theoretical assumptions.
- Potential circularity arises when a measurement result is evidentially relevant to its own assumptions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine potential circularity in particle physics measurements.
- To demonstrate how measurement uncertainty evaluation resolves this circularity.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of theoretical assumptions in measurement.
- Investigation of the role of uncertainty evaluation in scientific argumentation.
Main Results:
- Measurement uncertainty evaluation renders evidential circularity epistemically benign.
- Uncertainty evaluation provides a practical solution to Duhemian underdetermination.
Conclusions:
- The practice of evaluating measurement uncertainty reconciles theory dependence with hypothesis testing.
- This approach improves upon vague notions like 'good sense' and avoids scientific holism.
Related Concept Videos
03:37Uncertainty in Measurement: Accuracy and Precision
97.9K
Scientists typically make repeated measurements of a quantity to ensure the quality of their findings and to evaluate both the precision and the accuracy of their results. Measurements are said to be precise if they yield very similar results when repeated in the same manner. A measurement is considered accurate if it yields a result that is very close to the true or the accepted value. Precise values agree with each other; accurate values agree with a true value.
97.9K
00:59Uncertainty: Overview
1.2K
In analytical chemistry, we often perform repetitive measurements to detect and minimize inaccuracies caused by both determinate and indeterminate errors. Despite the cares we take, the presence of random errors means that repeated measurements almost never have exactly the same magnitude. The collective difference between these measurements - observed values - and the estimated or expected value is called uncertainty. Uncertainty is conventionally written after the estimated or expected value.
1.2K
02:46Uncertainty in Measurement: Reading Instruments
48.9K
Counting is the type of measurement that is free from uncertainty, provided the number of objects being counted does not change during the process. Such measurements result in exact numbers. By counting the eggs in a carton, for instance, one can determine exactly how many eggs are there in the carton. Similarly, the numbers of defined quantities are also exact. For example, 1 foot is exactly 12 inches, 1 inch is exactly 2.54 centimeters, and 1 gram is exactly 0.001 kilograms. Quantities...
48.9K
01:10Propagation of Uncertainty from Systematic Error
1.1K
The atomic mass of an element varies due to the relative ratio of its isotopes. A sample's relative proportion of oxygen isotopes influences its average atomic mass. For instance, if we were to measure the atomic mass of oxygen from a sample, the mass would be a weighted average of the isotopic masses of oxygen in that sample. Since a single sample is not likely to perfectly reflect the true atomic mass of oxygen for all the molecules of oxygen on Earth, the mass we obtain from this...
1.1K
00:59Propagation of Uncertainty from Random Error
1.4K
An experiment often consists of more than a single step. In this case, measurements at each step give rise to uncertainty. Because the measurements occur in successive steps, the uncertainty in one step necessarily contributes to that in the subsequent step. As we perform statistical analysis on these types of experiments, we must learn to account for the propagation of uncertainty from one step to the next. The propagation of uncertainty depends on the type of arithmetic operation performed on...
1.4K
01:20Random and Systematic Errors
13.9K
Scientists always try their best to record measurements with the utmost accuracy and precision. However, sometimes errors do occur. These errors can be random or systematic. Random errors are observed due to the inconsistency or fluctuation in the measurement process, or variations in the quantity itself that is being measured. Such errors fluctuate from being greater than or less than the true value in repeated measurements. Consider a scientist measuring the length of an earthworm using a...
13.9K