Confidence Interval Interpretation Card

Use

Use this when an estimate comes with a lower and upper value.

Plain Meaning

A confidence interval is a reasonable uncertainty range for an unknown value, based on a sample and a method.

Avoid Saying

• The true value is definitely inside this exact interval.
• Every future sample will fall inside this interval.
• The estimate is exact.

Safer Wording

The sample estimate is ..., and the uncertainty range suggests the wider value may plausibly be around ... to ...