What is a confidence interval?

A confidence interval is a statistical concept that provides a range of values, calculated from a data set, which is expected to contain the true value of an unknown population parameter. The interval is constructed in such a way that this range will include the true parameter value a specified percentage of the time, usually 95% or 99%.

This means that if the same population is sampled repeatedly and confidence intervals are calculated for each sample, a certain proportion of those intervals would encompass the true population parameter. This is particularly useful in statistical analysis as it provides not only an estimate of the population parameter but also a measure of uncertainty around that estimate.

In contrast, a single estimate of a population parameter lacks this element of uncertainty and does not account for variability in the data. Similarly, techniques to evaluate data quality and methods for visualizing data distributions focus on different aspects of data analysis rather than providing insight into estimation and uncertainty associated with a parameter. Thus, option B correctly identifies the essence of a confidence interval as a range of values that gives insight into where the true population parameter likely lies.