Publikation

Sample size matters: a guide for surgeons

Wissenschaftlicher Artikel/Review - 01.05.2005

Bereiche
PubMed
DOI

Zitation
Gueller U, Oertli D. Sample size matters: a guide for surgeons. World J Surg 2005; 29:601-5.
Art
Wissenschaftlicher Artikel/Review (Englisch)
Zeitschrift
World J Surg 2005; 29
Veröffentlichungsdatum
01.05.2005
ISSN (Druck)
0364-2313
Seiten
601-5
Kurzbeschreibung/Zielsetzung

Considerations of sample size computations in the medical literature have gained increasing importance over the past decade and are now often mandatory for scientific grant proposals, protocols, and publications. However, many surgeons are ill-prepared to understand the parameters on which the appropriate sample size is based. The present article has several objectives: first, to review the need for sample size considerations; second, to explain the ingredients necessary for sample size computations in simple, nonmathematic language; third, to provide options for reducing the sample size if it seems impracticably large; and fourth, to help avoid some of the more common mistakes encountered when computing sample sizes.