A Structured Methodology for Measurement Development

A conceptual framework is proposed in which measurement development is envisioned as a three-level hierarchically structured process constituted of stages, each one composed of activities performed through multiple tasks. The underlying assumptions are that measurement is a designed-on-purpose process and that the resources it requires should be justified on a pragmatic basis. The usefulness of the proposed methodology is then illustrated by applying it to an exemplary development of the measurement of the input-output transfer characteristic of an analog-to-digital converter and in the case of a research quality assessment. In this second case, the framework is used also to identify similarities and differences between this information gathering process and measurement.