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Confidence Interval

Plain English

How sure you can be about a result.

Definition

A interval is a statistical range that estimates where the true value of a result is likely to fall.

In practice

Used in like to assess how reliable results are.

In context

It is the honest of a test result. Reporting a twelve per cent lift without saying the range runs from two to twenty-two overstates what was learned.

The reality

Often misunderstood, especially when teams focus only on significance and ignore uncertainty.

Compared with

Confidence Interval vs Statistical Significance

Significance is a yes or no on whether an effect is likely real. A interval shows the plausible range of its size. The interval is more useful, because a significant result whose range includes almost nothing is not worth shipping.

FAQ

Common questions

A few practical answers to the questions that usually come up around this term.

What is a confidence interval?

It is a range that shows where the true value is likely to be.

What does 95 percent confidence mean?

The result would fall in that range 95 percent of the time if repeated.

Why is it important?

It shows how reliable your is.

What does a wide interval mean?

The result is less certain.

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