Comparability and compatibility of proficiency testing results in schemes with a limited number of participants |
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Authors: | Ilya Kuselman Maria Belli Stephen L. R. Ellison Ales Fajgelj Umberto Sansone Wolfhard Wegscheider |
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Affiliation: | (1) The National Physical Laboratory of Israel (INPL), Danciger “A” Bldg, Givat Ram, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel;(2) National Agency for Environmental Protection and Technical Services (APAT), Via di Castel Romano, 100, Rome, 00128, Italy;(3) LGC Limited, Queens Road, Teddington, Middlesex, TW11 0LY, UK;(4) International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Agency’s Laboratories, Seibersdorf, Wagramer Strasse 5, Vienna, 1400, Austria;(5) University of Leoben, Franz-Josef Strasse 18, 8700 Leoben, Austria |
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Abstract: | Comparability and compatibility of proficiency testing (PT) results are discussed for schemes with a limited number of participants (less than 20–30) based on the use of reference materials (RMs) as test items. Since PT results are a kind of measurement/analysis/test result, their comparability is a property conditioned by traceability to measurement standards applied in the measurement process. At the same time, metrological traceability of the certified value of the RM (sent to PT participants as test items) is also important, since the PT results are compared with the RM certified value. The RM position in the calibration hierarchy of measurement standards sets the degree of comparability for PT results, which can be assessed in the scheme. However, this assessment is influenced by commutability (adequacy or match) of the matrix RM used for PT and routine samples. Compatibility of PT results is a characteristic of the collective (group) performance of the laboratories participating in PT that can be expressed as closeness of the distribution of the PT results to the distribution of the RM data. Achieving quality-of-measurement/analysis/test results in the framework of the concept “tested once, accepted everywhere” requires both comparability and compatibility of the test results. |
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Keywords: | Proficiency testing Measurement uncertainty Traceability Comparability Compatibility |
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