Kevin J <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > "plasma C level was found to be between Y and Z at X level
> > of confidence" is not the information a confidence interval provides.

>  Umm, you are wrong.  Ever notice how polling data is written?  It's a
>  way of writing a CI, a way to write an interval calculated from sample
>  data the includes the parameter with a preassigned level of
>  confidence.  Meaning, in simple english that given say a 95% CI, there
>  is a 95% chance the population parameter falls within the 95% CI
>  calculated from the sample data.

This is the heart of the problem. I sympathize with researchers who refuse 
to calculate CIs, because 99% of the time it will be interpreted the same
way you do. CI does not imply that the population parameter is between Y and
Z with X probability. To make statements like this you would need to
consider a prior parameter distribution and combine it with the likelihood
of the data.

-- 
# syrahz_derzai ; at yahoo.com

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