Statistical Criteria for the Presentation of Results of an Experiment

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to provide certain criteria and rules for rounding the data for final reports, primarily based on the proposal of Verma (Estadística básica para el manejo de datos experimentales: Aplicación en la Geoquímica (Geoquimiometría) UNAM, México, D.F., 2005), but with significant modifications and clarifications. Other useful books for this chapter are Bevington (Data reduction and error analysis for the physical sciences. Mc-Graw Hill Book Company, New York, 1969) and Bevington and Robinson (Data reduction and error analysis for the physical sciences. McGraw Hill, Boston, 2003), which report four conventional criteria for identifying significant digits and three conventional rules for rounding of data. We may highlight that there are ten new rules for presenting tabulated data and achieving consistency. The close relationship of the central tendency and dispersion parameters is demonstrated and used for statistically coherent tabulation for a thesis, conference volume, scientific report, or formal peer-reviewed publication. A computer program is under construction for an easy application of all these rules, which will be shortly available for online at http://tlaloc.ier.unam.mx.