Minimum Standards: Sampling and Statistics

The purpose of statistics is to detect and/or verify patterns in data, and to suggest possible sources of such patterns. Interpretation of patterns so revealed is a matter for archaeological theory. Standards are needed to ensure that interpretations are based on patterns that exist at the level at which the interpretation is to be made (for example, comparison of assemblages in use at a locus; or the effects of site formation processes). The purpose of sampling is to reduce the cost (time, money or opportunity cost) of detecting and/or verifying such patterns. Standards are needed to ensure that the process does not (a) reduce the evidence to a level at which it is not safe to interpret, (b) introduce spurious patterns, or (c) result in redundant effort.