WHAT ARE DATA? Definition of Data Kinds of Data Variability Populations and Samples Importance of Reliability Metrology Computer Assisted Statistical Analyses Exercises References OBTAINING MEANINGFUL DATA Data Production Must Be Planned The Experimental Method Data Quality Indicators Data Quality Objectives Systematic Measurement Quality Assurance Importance of Peer Review Exercises References GENERAL PRINCIPLES Introduction Kinds of Statistics Decisions Error and Uncertainty Kinds of Data Accuracy, Precision, and Bias Statistical Control Distributions Tests for Normality Basic Requirements for Statistical Analysis Validity MINITAB Exercises References STATISTICAL CALCULATIONS Introduction The Mean, Variance, and Standard Deviation Degrees of Freedom Using Duplicate Measurements to Estimate a Standard Deviation Using the Range to Estimate the Standard Deviation Pooled Statistical Estimates Simple Analysis of Variance Log Normal Statistics Minimum Reporting Statistics Computations One Last Thing to Remember Exercises References DATA ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES Introduction One Sample Topics Two Sample Topics Propagation of Error in a Derived or Calculated Value Exercises References MANAGING SETS OF DATA Introduction Outliers Combining Data Sets Statistics of Interlaboratory Collaborative Testing Random Numbers Exercises References PRESENTING DATA Tables Charts Graphs Mathematical Expressions Exercises References PROPORTIONS, SURVIVAL DATA AND TIME SERIES DATA Introduction Proportions Survival Data Time Series Data Exercises References SELECTED TOPICS Basic Probability Concepts Measures of Location Tests for Nonrandomness Comparing Several Averages Type I Errors, Type II Errors and Statistical Power Critical Values and P Values Correlation Coefficient The Best Two Out of Three Comparing a Frequency Distribution with a Normal Distribution Confidence for a Fitted Line Joint Confidence Region for the Constants of a Fitted Line Shortcut Procedures Nonparametric Tests Extreme Value Data Statistics of Control Charts Simulation and Macros Exercises References CONCLUSION Summary APPENDICES Statistical Tables Glossary Answers to Numerical Exercises Index