Optimal sample size calculation for null hypothesis significance tests
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Abstract Traditional study design tools for estimating appropriate sample sizes are not consistently used in ecology and can lead to low statistical power to detect biologically relevant effects. We have developed a new approach to estimating optimal sample sizes, requiring only three parameters; a maximum acceptable average of α and β, a critical effect size of minimum biological relevance, and an estimate of the relative costs of Type I vs. Type II errors.This approach can be used to show the general circumstances under which different combinations of critical effect sizes and maximum acceptable combinations of α and β are attainable for different statistical tests. The optimal α sample size estimation approach can require fewer samples than traditional sample size estimation methods when costs of Type I and II errors are assumed to be equal but recommends comparatively more samples for increasingly unequal Type I vs. Type II errors costs. When sampling costs and absolute costs of Type I and II errors are known, optimal sample size estimation can be used to determine the smallest sample size at which the cost of an additional sample outweighs its associated reduction in errors. Optimal sample size estimation constitutes a more flexible and intuitive tool than traditional sample size estimation approaches, given the constraints and unknowns commonly faced by ecologists during study.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.050 | 0.257 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.003 | 0.002 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.002 | 0.003 |
| Open science | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Research integrity | 0.002 | 0.003 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.006 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".