How to read a margin of error
Launch library · evergreen read
A margin of error signals the range within which the true figure probably sits, given the limits of how a result was measured in the first place. A reported figure sitting comfortably inside another result's margin of error may not actually represent a meaningful difference between the two at all.
Ignoring the margin of error can turn ordinary statistical noise into a false story of change, where two numbers that are not truly distinguishable from one another get reported as though one has clearly overtaken the other, simply because one happens to be slightly higher on paper that day.
Getting comfortable with this concept helps temper overconfident claims built on small differences between figures. A gap that falls within the margin of error deserves to be described as uncertain, not as a confirmed shift, however tempting the more dramatic framing might be to reach for, particularly when the story otherwise feels a little flat.