ABSTRACT
Formulating conclusions is the most important part of the analysis of a data set and the most subjective. To interpret the results of the analysis, the investigator must apply his or her knowledge of the biophysics of the system, and as a result different people may legitimately look at the same statistical results and reach different conclusions. To the extent that the statistics support prior assumptions they may be regarded as an af–rmation of these assumptions, but to the extent that they con£ict with them, one must decide how to respond to this con£ict. The analysis of each of the four data sets that has occupied this book has been a simulation of an actual research project. The objectives that were established in Chapter 1 are not actual current research objectives. Rather, the objectives were established, based on the research objectives of the original projects, for expository purposes, as questions that could legitimately be posed prior to the collection of the data and then addressed by the analysis of that data. Nevertheless, the fact that different people may use the same data set to reach entirely different conclusions still applies. For this reason, my goal in this chapter is not to convince you that my conclusions are correct but rather to present an example of how one might approach the highly personal process of developing an interpretation of the implications of their analytical results. Others may come to different conclusions based on the same data, and the intent of this chapter is not to advocate for one particular approach but rather to provide an example of an approach, some parts of which you may –nd appropriate and some parts of which you may choose to ignore.
