3 Collecting the Data

An element of chance enters into every measurement; hence every set of measurements is inherently a sample of certain more or less unknown conditions. Even in the few instances where we believe that the objective reality under measurement is a constant, the measurements of this constant are influenced by chance or unknown causes. Hence, the set of measurements of any quantity, even though the quantity itself be a constant, is a sample of a possible infinite set of measurements which we might make of this same quantity under essentially the same conditions.

From this viewpoint, measurement is a sampling process designed to tell us something about the universe in which we live that will enable us to predict the future in ...

Get Measuring the Software Process: Statistical Process Control for Software Process Improvement now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.