systematic error
Repeatable measurement flaw
Systematic error is a consistent, repeatable inaccuracy in measurement or observation that skews results in the same direction each time.
Unlike random error, which scatters unpredictably, systematic error introduces bias—a miscalibrated scale that always reads two pounds heavy, a survey question that leads respondents toward a particular answer.
The study's systematic error made all the temperature readings too low.
Also called bias in statistical contexts.
- biasUnfair inclination or prejudice
- measurementDetermining size or amount
- deviationDeparture from expected path
- calibrationAdjusting for measurement accuracy
- driftGradual movement, no direction
offset · zero point · skew · distortion · flaw · inaccuracy · instrument · constant · repeatability · zero · baseline · tilt · slant · methodological · reproducibility · artifact · contamination · parallax
- research methodsexperiment, hypothesis, deduction, experiments, induction
- research errorsselection bias, confirmation bias, survivorship bias, cognitive bias, confounding variables
- lab errorsmislabeling, cross-contamination, equipment failure, misidentification, quality control failure
- measurement errorsinaccuracy, imprecision
- research validityvalidity, reliability, replicability, reproducibility, generalizability
- errorsmistake, blunder, blunders, fault, flaw
systematic, system, systems, systemic, systemize, systematize, systematically, systematization, systemically