Many books are available that detail the basic principles of the different methods of surface characterization. On the other hand, the scientific literature provides a resource of how individual pieces of research are conducted by particular labo- tories. Between these two extremes the literature is thin but it is here that the present volume comfortably sits. Both the newcomer and the more mature scientist will find in these chapters a wealth of detail as well as advice and general guidance of the principal phenomena relevant to the study of real samples. In the analysis of samples, practical analysts have fairly simple models of how everything works. Superimposed on this ideal world is an understanding of how the parameters of the measurement method, the instrumentation, and the char- teristics of the sample distort this ideal world into something less precise, less controlled, and less understood. The guidance given in these chapters allows the scientist to understand how to obtain the most precise and understood measu- ments that are currently possible and, where there are inevitable problems, to have clear guidance as the extent of the problem and its likely behavior.
