noun phrase · academic
margin of error
UK/ˈmɑːdʒɪn əv ˈɛrə/US/ˈmɑːrdʒɪn əv ˈɛrər/MAR·gin of ER·ror
the range (usually ± percent) that indicates the expected sampling error in survey results
Examples
“The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus three percent.”
“With a larger sample, the margin of error decreases.”
“You should report the margin of error when publishing survey results.”
Band 8 sentence
“Given the survey's sample size, a margin of error of ±2.5% is acceptable for national estimates.”
Collocations
- margin of error ±
- reduce the margin of error
Word family
Common mistakes
error margin→margin of error
margin error→margin of error
Say it for a higher band
5error margin→6sampling error→7+margin of error
Synonyms
sampling error
Easily confused
sampling error
“The sampling error was reflected in the reported margin of error of ±4%.”
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