Introduction to Instrumental Analysis Classification of Analytical Techniques

Figure 1: Schematic showing measurement steps involved in quantitative chemical analysis of a sample. There are three ways of classifying the process, based on the technique (classical vs instrumental), the measurement data (single-channel vs multi-channel), or on whether additional data is needed to estimate the analyte concentration (relative vs absolute). There are a very large number of techniques used in chemical analysis. It can be very useful to classify the measurement process according to a variety of criteria: • by the type of analytical technique – classical or instrumental techniques; • by the nature of the measurement data generated – single-channel or multi-channel techniques; and • by the quantitation method (by which the analyte concentration is calculated) – relative or absolute techniques.