WWB and the long series: what years of results actually tell you

Started 20 January 2025 · 5 replies · 69 hearts · read 1.6k times

RuthieLeicester, UK · 20 January 2025

1.5 years ago

I have been reading the independent results for WWB as a series rather than one at a time, and I think the series is the interesting object.

A single good result tells you about one vial. A hundred results across four years, from more than one testing service, tells you something about whether a process holds. That second thing is what I actually want to know and it is almost never how these numbers get discussed.

The caveat is the obvious one: my lot is not in the series until somebody tests my lot.

NilsUppsala, SE

This is the right way round. Variance across a series is more informative than any point estimate in it.

AmmiKarachi, PK

I asked about an item two other places said was unobtainable and got a straight answer with a lead time. That is a different kind of information and it also counted for me.

AnnaAthens, GR

Building on what Ruthie wrote rather than answering the original question: the series also shows you what a supplier does when a result is unremarkable, which is publish it anyway.

StellanMalmö, SE

My own commissioned result sat inside the range of the published series, which is the outcome I wanted and the least dramatic thing I could report.

SunilFacilitatorBirmingham, UK

I am leaving this open because the reading group will come back to how to read a series properly in the autumn. In the meantime: none of this is medical advice and none of it makes research-use-only material appropriate for a person.

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