Margin of Error


When a statistic is used to estimate a parameter, it is common to compute a confidence interval. The margin of error is the difference between the statistic and the endpoints of the interval. For example, if the statistic were 0.6 and the confidence interval ranged from 0.4 to 0.8, then the margin of error would be 0.20. Unless otherwise specified, the 95% confidence interval is used.