Many people involved in the clinical laboratory sciences need to be familiar with basic statistics for a variety of reasons.  These reasons include:

• performing quality control, and interpreting of results of instrument testing
• determining suitability of different methods or instruments for the same task
• understanding how acceptable laboratory procedures and methods are established
• determining ranges for clinical tests of normal, healthy individuals
• understanding clinical trials and new methods presented in journals and articles
• performing those trials and research projects yourself