Digital analysis is a method of analyzing the patterns of digits in a sample of numbers to determine if the sample is similar to a population of numbers. This article introduces digital analysis into the educational literature and provides instructors with materials that can be used to teach the concepts and power of digital analysis as a tool for improving data integrity. The article discusses how digital analysis is being used today and how it might be used in the future. It then discusses two digital frequency distributions that can be used as benchmarks to test data validity using digital analysis. Suggestions for class use are provided in a teaching note. Free Excel‐based software that performs digital analysis can be downloaded via the Internet and distributed to students for use in one of the assignments.
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1 November 1999
