Analysis of laboratory intercomparison data: a matter of independence

When laboratory intercomparison exercises are conducted, there is no a priori dependence of the concentration of a certain compound determined in one laboratory to that determined by another(s). The same applies when comparing different methodologies. A existing data set of total mercury readings in...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mauro F. Rebelo, José M. Monserrat, Wanderley G. Bastos
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Química 2003-05-01
Series:Química Nova
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-40422003000300020
Description
Summary:When laboratory intercomparison exercises are conducted, there is no a priori dependence of the concentration of a certain compound determined in one laboratory to that determined by another(s). The same applies when comparing different methodologies. A existing data set of total mercury readings in fish muscle samples involved in a Brazilian intercomparison exercise was used to show that correlation analysis is the most effective statistical tool in this kind of experiments. Problems associated with alternative analytical tools such as mean or paired 't'-test comparison and regression analysis are discussed.
ISSN:0100-4042
1678-7064