Why?

Society's need for knowledge about experiences, feelings, behaviours and abilities is increasing. It is important to know how people and society feel or how a product or service is perceived, and to be able to compare how these change over time and between different areas, for example when making decisions about priorities, efforts and effects. In order for measurements of experiences, feelings, behaviours and abilities to be useful and provide reliable data, quality-assured measurement is required for socalled category based measurements1. It is therefore necessary that basic measurement principles are applied, which is often not the case today in this field. For the physical quantities (length, mass, time, etc.) there has long been an internationally established measurement quality infrastructure. In Sweden, it is mainly RISE as the National Metrological Institute which, through its national measurement sites, is responsible for ensuring access to quality-assured and traceable measurements for society. However, the corresponding measurement quality infrastructure is so far missing for category based measurements.

What?

RISE has been working for several years to develop methodology and working methods for measurement quality assurance of experiences, feelings, behaviours and abilities. Through dialogue over several years with actors at various levels, including in health care and academia, it has emerged that there is a great need for support for this development. RISE has therefore produced a first draft of a possible sustainable organization for measurement quality assurance of category based measurements. A national centre for quality assurance of category based measurements would be tasked with coordinating and ensuring reliable and comparable measurements of experiences, feelings, behaviours and abilities. Such infrastructural support must make methodologies available to enable quality assurance for category based measurements. The organization must meet society's need for support by offering services based on internationally accepted metrological principles and scientific methods, as well as adopting a neutral and independent role.

How?

We have humility about the fact that it is a long process to establish an organization for category based measurements and that it needs to happen through a dynamic and iterative development in co-creation with the actors involved. We look forward to continuing to develop ideas and revise the proposal in dialogue in the coming years. It is also important to start a dialogue together with relevant actors about how the implementation of the organization can take place in the future.