1 Oxford and Webster's dictionaries,2 give trans-Atlantic agreement in English with a common definition for 'Quality' as 'degree of excellence'. Compared with the many words taken up by other authors' definitions, this is remarkably brief and no doubt unsatisfactory to many people. Yet if 'degree' means a stage in an ascending or descending series, in intensity or in amount, then measurement is by definition explicitly required if terms such as 'quality level', 'good quality', 'high quality' etc. are to have any real meaning. Using measurement is inherent in the methods of all the major...

1 Oxford and Webster's dictionaries,2 give trans-Atlantic agreement in English with a common definition for 'Quality' as 'degree of excellence'. Compared with the many words taken up by other authors' definitions, this is remarkably brief and no doubt unsatisfactory to many people. Yet if 'degree' means a stage in an ascending or descending series, in intensity or in amount, then measurement is by definition explicitly required if terms such as 'quality level', 'good quality', 'high quality' etc. are to have any real meaning. Using measurement is inherent in the methods of all the major...