|
 |
|
Accuracy versus Precision
Accuracy is not the same thing as precision.
"Accuracy" represents the ability to estimate age closest to the true age of the organism.
"Precision" measures the ability to repeat a previous estimate of age (regardless of accuracy).
Age data may be accurate but imprecise with repeated estimates, accurate and precise, inaccurate but precise, or inaccurate AND imprecise!
The following figure (Figure 1) graphically demonstrates these distinctions.
In absence of the means to estimate accuracy, age reading labs generally measure precision.
While precision is often described as a proxy for accuracy, this is a dangerous assumption if no studies of ground-truthing the age-reading criteria have been performed.
Literature cited
Kelley, W.D., Ratliff, Jr., T.A., Nenadic, C. 1992. Basic statistics for laboratories: a primer for laboratory workers. New York,NY:Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Return to Quality Control and Assessment Page
|
|
|
|
