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A NOTE ON “ACCURACY” AND “PRECISION”
Author(s) -
STALLINGS WILLIAM M.,
GILLMORE GERALD M.
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
journal of educational measurement
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.917
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1745-3984
pISSN - 0022-0655
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-3984.1971.tb00916.x
Subject(s) - reliability (semiconductor) , accuracy and precision , computer science , diagnostic accuracy , validity , meaning (existential) , artificial intelligence , psychology , reliability engineering , natural language processing , data mining , statistics , psychometrics , mathematics , engineering , medicine , power (physics) , physics , quantum mechanics , psychotherapist , radiology
The terms accuracy and precision are consistently differentiated in the literature of engineering and the “hard” sciences. Precision shares a common core of meaning with reliability as used by behavioral scientists. Accuracy and validity have a similar semantic overlap. A review of the literature in educational and psychological measurement reveals an interchangeable usage of accuracy and precision in defining reliability, To help beginning students distinguish between validity and reliability, this paper advocates the use of precision, rather than accuracy, in describing reliability.