A QC program requires documentation of control results and routine assessment of data. It is important to understand the terminology and to properly interpret the statistical analyses of collected data. To begin, we will define basic terms used in the statistical analysis of data.
- The mean is simply an average of data points.
- Let's say that 100 glucose determinations are performed on a known control sample.
- If we add all the results together, and then divide by the number of results, we obtain the mean.
- Significant variations in the mean from day to day may indicate systematic errors.
