P5.3—Assessing result quality, validity and risk

Quality concerns spread and consistency; validity asks whether the design really tests the hypothesis; risk combines hazard severity with likelihood.

Use anomalies, standard deviation, standard error or confidence intervals where appropriate and state precautions.

A narrow spread does not prove validity if the dependent variable is a poor measure of the biological process.

Repeatability and accuracy are related but not identical, and a low-risk procedure can still be invalid.