Question

What is the sensitivity coefficient?

(a) It describes how sensitive the input data is

(b) It describes to what extent output data is influenced with variation in input data

(c) It describes to what extent input can change

(d) It describes to what extent input data is influenced with variation in the number of observations

The question was posed to me in a national level competition.

This is a very interesting question from Type B Evaluation of Standard Uncertainty in chapter Evaluating Uncertainty in Measurement of Engineering Metrology

Answer 1

Correct answer is (b) It describes to what extent output data is influenced with variation in input data

To elaborate: The sensitivity coefficient describes to what extent the output estimate is influenced by variation of the input estimate. The sensitivity coefficient can be calculated by varying the quantity over range of uncertainty list and measuring its influence on the measurand.