What do confidence intervals represent?

Question

What do confidence intervals represent?

Answer 1

Actually, no.

It represents an interval that is likely (to some confidence level) to contain the true population parameter of interest.

It is based on the presumption that, if the procedure were repeated over and over again, the interval would bound the true parameter "confidence level" percent of the time.

Note the pedantically twisted wording -- the probability is that the interval encloses the parameter, not that the parameter lies within the interval.

Answer 2

They translate to how confident the investigator is about the possible result of his study.

In simple terms what is the % likelyhood that the answer is between two numbers.