Laboratory Excellence and AccreditationBasic Statistics for Laboratory Professionals
Laboratory work produces numbers, and the conclusions drawn from them are only as sound as the statistics applied. This course builds that foundation for people without a statistical background. Delegates work through distributions and what normality means in practice, measures of centre and spread, standard error and confidence intervals, and the outlier tests that are widely used and frequently misapplied. Significance testing is introduced through what a p value does and does not say. The material is taught entirely on laboratory data, including calibration, replicate analysis and control results, so delegates leave able to interpret their own output rather than a textbook example.
2 day course
Course objectives
- Describe distributions and assess normality in practice
- Calculate and interpret measures of centre and spread
- Distinguish standard deviation from standard error
- Construct and interpret confidence intervals
- Apply outlier tests correctly and know their limits
- Interpret a significance test and what a p value does not say
- Apply these to calibration, replicate and control data
Who should attend
- Laboratory analysts and technicians
- Quality officers and technical staff
- Graduate scientists without a statistics background
- Supervisors interpreting laboratory data
- Anyone reviewing laboratory results before release
Course outline
- 01Data types and distributions
- 02Normality and what it means in practice
- 03Centre, spread and the summary that misleads
- 04Standard deviation against standard error
- 05Confidence intervals
- 06Outlier tests and their misuse
- 07Significance testing and the p value
- 08Applying it to calibration, replicate and control data
Scheduled sessions
| Dates | Venue | Format | Price | Register |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 to 17 November 2026 | Dar es Salaam, Tanzania | Classroom | USD 795 per delegate | |
| 26 to 27 November 2026 | Maseru, Lesotho | Classroom | R11,950 per delegate | |
| 3 to 4 December 2026 | Windhoek, Namibia | Classroom | R11,950 per delegate | |
| 14 to 15 January 2027 | Pretoria, South Africa | Classroom | R11,950 per delegate | |
| 9 to 10 February 2027 | Online | Online | R6,500 per delegate | |
| 22 to 23 March 2027 | Durban, South Africa | Classroom | R11,950 per delegate |
Basic Statistics for Laboratory Professionals
From R6,500