Types of Error in Survey

TYPES OF ERROR

Errors of measurement are of three kinds: (i) mistakes, (ii) systematic errors, and (iii) accidental errors.

(i) Mistakes. Mistakes are errors that arise from inattention, inexperience, carelessness and poor judgment or confusion in the mind of the observer. If mistake is undetected, it produces a serious effect on the final result. Hence every value to be recorded in the field must be checked by some independent field observation.

Systematic Error. A systematic error is an error that under the same conditions will always be of the same size and sign. A systematic error always follows some definite mathematical or physical law, and a correction can be determined and applied. Such errors are  of  constant  character  and  are  regarded   as  positive  or negative according as they make the result too great or too small. Their effect is therefore, cumulative. If undetected, systematic errors are very serious. Therefore:

(1) All the surveying equipments must be designed and used so that whenever possible systematic  errors  will  be  automatically  eliminated  and  (2)  all  systematic  errors  that cannot be surely eliminated by this means must be evaluated and their relationship to the conditions that cause them must be determined. For example, in ordinary levelling, the levelling instrument must first be adjusted so that the line of sight is as nearly horizontal as possible when bubble is centered. Also the horizontal lengths for back sight and foresight from each instrument position should be kept as nearly equal as possible. In precise levelling, every day, the actual error of the instrument must be determined by careful peg test, the length of each sight is measured by stadia and a correction to the result is applied.

(iii) Accidental Error. Accidental errors are those which remain after mistakes and systematic errors have been eliminated and are caused by a combination of reasons beyond the ability of the observer to control. They tend sometimes in one direction and some times in the other, i.e., they are equally likely to make the apparent result too large or too small.

An accidental error of a single determination is the difference between (1) the true value of the quantity and (2) a determination that is free from mistakes and systematic errors. Accidental error represents limit of precision in the determination of a value. They obey the laws of chance and therefore, must be handled according to the mathematical laws of probability.

The theory of errors that is discussed in this chapter deals only with the accidental errors after all the known errors are eliminated and accounted for.