Part 3

Getting Down and Dirty with Data

IN THIS PART …

  • Collect and validate your data, avoiding common pitfalls up front that can cause trouble later on.
  • Summarize your data in informative tables and display them in easy-to-understand graphs.
  • Understand the concepts of accuracy, which is how close a sample statistic is to the corresponding population parameter, and precision, which refers to how close replicate values of the sample statistic are to each other.
  • Calculate standard errors and confidence intervals for the sample estimates you can calculate from your data.