1. Scope

1.1 This practice covers guidance for the statistical analysis of laboratory data on the toxicity of chemicals or mixtures of chemicals to aquatic or terrestrial plants and animals. This practice applies only to the analysis of the data, after the test has been completed. All design concerns, such as the statement of the null hypothesis and its alternative, the choice of alpha and beta risks, the identification of experimental units, possible pseudo replication, randomization techniques, and the execution of the test are beyond the scope of this practice. This practice is not a textbook, nor does it replace consultation with a statistician. It assumes that the investigator recognizes the structure of his experimental design, has identified the experimental units that were used, and understands how the test was conducted. Given this information, the proper statistical analyses can be determined for the data.

1.1.1 Recognizing that statistics is a profession in which research continues in order to improve methods for performing the analysis of scientific data, the use of statistical methods other than those described in this practice is acceptable as long as they are properly documented and scientifically defensible. Additional annexes may be developed in the future to reflect comments and needs identified by users, such as more detailed discussion of probit and logistic regression models, or statistical methods for dose response and risk assessment.

1.2 The sections of this guide appear as follows:

This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.

2. Referenced Documents (purchase separately) The documents listed below are referenced within the subject standard but are not provided as part of the standard.

ASTM Standards

E178 Practice for Dealing With Outlying Observations

E456 Terminology Relating to Quality and Statistics

E1241 Guide for Conducting Early Life-Stage Toxicity Tests with Fishes

E1325 Terminology Relating to Design of Experiments

IEEE/ASTM SI 10 American National Standard for Use of the International System of Units (SI): The Modern Metric System

Keywords

ANOVA; categorical data analysis; flow chart; means comparisons; plots; probit analysis; regression; reliability analysis; statistical analysis; trend analysis ;

ICS Code

ICS Number Code 03.120.30 (Application of statistical methods); 07.100.10 (Medical microbiology)

DOI: 10.1520/E1847-96R08

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