【英语时差8,16】公众投票的误差及可信度（下）

 How confident can the surveyor be about an estimated margin¹ of error? To measure this, surveys also have what is called a “confidence level”, which is the likelihood that the estimate between seventy and eighty percent in this case is really accurate. Most surveys have a ninety five percent confidence level. In other words, there’s a five percent chance — or a one in twenty possibility — that the overall public opinion doesn’t even fall within the estimated margin of error. Confidence levels and margins² of error are based on the size of the sample in comparison to the size of the whole population. They don’t take into account the possibility of inaccuracies in the survey itself. So, next time you survey results, look for the margin of error. And remember there’s still at least a one-in-twenty chance that the real public opinion doesn’t even lie within that margin of error.

1 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

2 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。