Morphometrics is a field concerned with studying variation and change in the form (size and shape) of organisms. Morphometric analyses are commonly performed on organisms, and are particularly useful in analyzing the development or growth of the organism. Morphometrics can quantify a trait of significance, and by detecting changes in the shape of organisms, deduce important things on their growth, development or relationships between different species of the same genera.

Morphometrics adds a quantitative component to descriptions, allowing more thorough comparisons. It enables researchers to describe complex shapes in a meticulous fashion, and allows numerical comparison between different forms. By reducing shape to a series of numbers, it allows objective comparison that does not rely on individuals' interpretation of descriptive words. Moreover, statistical and mathematical analysis can highlight areas where change is condensed, removing the need to clearly assert an area for investigation before study.

Morphometric study aims to describe the shape of an object in the simplest possible fashion, removing extraneous information and thereby facilitating comparison between different objects.