Have you ever asked yourself why hypotheses and theories in social science are tested at 95% confidence level? This is because you can never be 100% sure that the results you are presenting are 100% true. Therefore we leave 5% room for making an error.

Social science research is carried out with people and so bias and errors are almost invariably present in a research study. There are various errors that affect the research findings. We may have errors during measurement, processing data, analyzing etc. This lesson will discuss measurement errors.

Measurement is central in social science research. Measurement refers to assigning numbers to observations. When we are collecting data, we are using research instruments or tools to measure variables. Therefore, when measuring something, error is any deviation from the “true” value.

This lesson will introduce us to errors that may arise when one is measuring.