Mission Statement of the SSM
The Society for the Study of Measurement, founded in 2022, aims to foster research and communication on measurement from multiple perspectives and across disciplines. We promote research on the relationships between measurement concepts and methods across the disciplines—from the natural to the social sciences to the behavioural sciences—and from the perspectives of different disciplines, including philosophy, history, sociology, metrology, psychometrics, statistics, and data science, among many others.
Measurement is a key source of knowledge in the sciences, and plays central roles in engineering, medicine, commerce, public policy, and daily life. Scientists routinely measure properties such as mass, reading ability, socio-economic status, and human development. The methods, presuppositions, and goals of such measurements vary substantially, as do the histories, technologies, and institutions that make such measurements possible. Typically, each scientific discipline cultivates measurement techniques and expertise that are specific to its needs, covering topics such as instrument design, data analysis, and standardisation. The Society is motivated by the belief that such disciplinary knowledge can be enriched by adopting a broader, multidimensional perspective on the mathematical, philosophical, historical, and practical contexts that shape measurement practices. The Society therefore promotes research and scholarly reflection on the development, foundations, and problems of measurement, both within each discipline and across disciplines. It additionally promotes the study of measurement as a cultural, social, and historical phenomenon, of its role in policymaking, and of its ethical, political, and environmental dimensions.
The primary activities of the Society include organising the recurring Conference of the Society for the Study of Measurement, cooperating with research and teaching initiatives on measurement, supporting new scholars who are pursuing research and teaching on measurement, and communicating with its members on topics of common interest.
The Society promotes equity, diversity, and inclusion in all its activities. It aims to attract the membership of a diverse body of researchers, and to ensure the fair possibility of participation and representation of interests of scholars from a variety of national, ethnic, and gender backgrounds on its committees and among its speakers. It is similarly committed to promoting research on the impacts of measurement on marginalised social groups and on the contributions of non-Western individuals and traditions to the theory and practice of measurement.