Springer Validation in Chemical Measurement

Validationofmeasurementmethodshasbeenusedforavery ciated measurement uncertainty? The answer must be: no. longtimeinchemistry. Itismostlybasedontheexamination Therecanneverbeamechanismorrecipeforproducing - of a measurement procedure for its characteristics such as tomatically 'valid' results because one can never eliminate precision, accuracy, selectivity, sensitivity, repeatability, re- theskills,theroleandtheresponsibilityoftheanalyst. producibility,detectionlimit,quanti?cationlimitandmore. ISO 9000:2000, item 3. 8. 5 de?nes validation as 'con?r- When focussing on quality comparability and reliability mation by examination and provision of objective evidence in chemical measurement, the ?elds of interest to this Jour- that the requirements for an intended use are ful?lled'. The nal, one stumbles into various interpretations of the term revised edition of the VIM ('VIM3'), is likely to ?ne-tune validation. It is one more example of a term which is used thisde?nitionoftheconcept'validation'tobe'con?rmation sometimes very consistently, sometimes very loosely or in- through examination of a given item and provision of - deed ambiguously. Since the term is very common in the jective evidence that it ful?lls the requirements for a stated chemical community, it is important that its meaning be intendeduse'. nd clear. Turning to the 2 edition of the International Vo- Lookingatsimplepractice, manypeoplearelookingfor cabulary of Basic and General terms in Metrology (VIM) aformaldecisionthatagivenmeasurementmethod automat- (1993), surprisingly we do not ?nd a de?nition. Webster's ically gives them 'valid' i. e. reliable results. One wonders Dictionary of the English language (1992) tells us that val- what this has to do with 'stated intended use'. Reliab- idation is 'making or being made valid'. Obviously valida- ity clearly is a property of a measurement result. Review From the reviews: "The world at large has become more aware of the importance of analytical measurements and their role in defining what quality is acceptable and what is not! … overall this is a useful compilation and would serve as a good introduction to and an overview of the field for practicing analytical chemists and scientists particularly from certified laboratories (ISO 17025 etc)." (C. Burgess, Chromatographia, Vol. 62 (3-4), 2005) "Validation is certainly a hot topic in analytical chemistry since a couple of decades. It is not only an important topic in education of chemical students, but first of all the subject of interest for routine laboratories. … There is no doubt, that in the field where many analytical chemist consider themselves as experts, such book brings much new and useful information … . I am sure that this book will be appreciated by many newly educated as well as experienced analysts." (Adam Hulanicki, Chemia Analityczna, Vol. 50, 2005)