Sample Size Determination

Concept

Population vs. sample

Population Random sample

Calculation

Population mean of the change in blood pressure

Inference

Sample mean of the change in blood pressure

Purpose of sample size

Sample size based on
Financial resources Manpower resources Level of reliability objectives

Why study sample

Cost : much lower cost than a census Accuracy : Much better control over data Timeliness : Timely decision making Amount of information : Amount of information Destructive test : when test involves destruction of an item

How collected
The data is collected through interviews , field notes, observations, vedios, personal journals, memos, or other varieties of pictorial or written material, which are then analyzed by a coding procedure to illuminate patterns or concepts that are the building blocks of theory.

Grounded theory
Grounded theory is a process by which a researcher generates theory that is grounded in the data The procedure allows for a systematic analysis of the data and follows a given, repeatable procedure The rigor of the grounded theory approaches , offers qualitative researchers a set of clear guidelines from which to build explanatory frameworks that specify relationships among concepts.

Sample size in qualitative research

The key to ground theory is to generate enough in depth data that can Illuminate patterns Concepts Categories Properties And dimensions of the given phenomenon

So !!!!!!!!!!
IT IS VERY ESSENTIAL TO GET AN APPROPRIATE SAMPLE SIZE THAT WILL GENERATE ENOUGH DATA

What size is the appropriate one

Theoretical saturation is the answer and it occurs when
No new or relevant data seem to emerge regarding a category The categories are well developed in terms of properties and dimensions

Relationships among categories are established and validated

So !!!!!!!!!!
THE RESEARCHER WOULD CONTINUE INTERVIEWING CLIENTS UNTIL THE DATA THEY ARE GATHERING FROM THE INTERVIEWS BECOME REPETITIVE-NO NEW DATA EMERGE

Sample size in Quantitative research

Steps
Identify major study variable Determine type of estimate Indicate expected frequency/measurement of factor of interest Desired precision of the estimate Allowable error / acceptable risk ..confidence interval Adjust for estimated design effect [ DE ] Adjust for expected response rate

Basic concept
The objectives in interval estimation are to obtain narrow interval with high reliability If we look at the components of the confidence interval, we see that the width of the interval is determined by the magnitude of the [reliability coefficient X standard error] Total width of the interval is twice this amount

 This quantity is usually called the precision of the estimate or the margin of error. For a given standard error, increasing reliability means a larger reliability coefficient A larger reliability coefficient for a fixed standard error makes wider interval

 For a fix reliability coefficient, the only way to reduce the width of the interval is to reduce the standard error Since the standard error is equal to n and since is a constant, the only way to obtain a small standard error is to take a large sample

Estimating 2
A pilot or preliminary sample may be drawn and variance computed from this may be used 2 may be available from previous or similar studies If population is normally distributed, one may assume the fact that range is approximately equal to 6 standard deviation and compute = R/6 but it requires the knowledge of the smallest and largest value

Size depends on ???

The size of , the population SD
The desired degree of reliability

The desired degree of precision..the allowable margin of error

Degree of precision/ margin of error

Reliability co-efficient

We know

d Z

Standard Standard deviation Sample size

Error

Which when solved for n gives

Z n 2 d
2

 When sampling is without replacement from a small finite population, the finite population correction is required and equation becomes :

d Z

N n N 1

Which when solved for n gives

N * Z 2 2 n 2 2 2 d ( N 1) Z

problem
A clinician would like to explore the mean fasting blood glucose value of diabetic patients at DMCH over the past 10 years. We are interested in determining the number of records the clinician should examine in order to obtain a 95 % confidence interval for ( the population mean fasting blood glucose ) if the desired width of the interval is 6 units and a pilot sample yields a variance of 60. Also want to find the sample size that should be taken to examine if the total number of records is 10,000.

Three information
The desired width of the confidence interval i.e. margin of error The level of confidence desired

The magnitude of the population variance

solution
Here we are given; Z = 1.96 for a 95% confidence interval d = margin of error = 3 2 = variance of the population therefore,

Z 1.96 * 60 n 25 .61 2 2 d 3
2 2 2

thus the number of records should be examined is 26

solution
Thus the number of records for finite population
Nz 2 2 n 2 d ( N 1) z 2 2 1.962 *10000 * 602 2 3 (10000 1) 1.962 * 602 25.55

Z pq n 2 d
Where p = Sample proportion or percentage of incidence or prevalence, q = 1-p z = The value of standard normal variate at a given confidence level d = acceptable margin of error n = size of the sample

Finite population
Z pqN n 2 2 d ( N 1) Z pq
p = Sample proportion or percentage of incidence or prevalence, q = 1-p z = The value of standard normal variate at a given confidence level d = acceptable margin of error

n = size of the sample

Note: When N is large in comparison to n (i.e. n/N .05 ) the finite population correction may be ignored

Problem
A group of researcher feels confident that a new drug will cure about 70% of the hypertensive patients. What the researcher want to know is how large should the sample size be for the group 95% certain that the sample proportion of cure is within 5% of the proportion of all cases that the new drug will cure.

solution
Here we are given population infinite p = sample proportion or percentage of incidence or prevalence

q = 1- p = 1- 0.70 = .30
z = 1.96 for a 95% of confidence interval d = margin of error = 5% = .05

calculation
Z 2 pq 1.962 * .70 * .30 n 2 d .052 .807 .0025 322.8
The necessary sample size is 323

Problem
A hospital administrator wishes to know what proportion of discharged patient is unhappy with the care received during hospitalization. He is interested to find out the answers to these questions how large a sample should be drawn if we let d = 0.05, the confidence coefficient is 0.95 and no other information is available. How large should the sample be if p is approximately by 0.5

solution
Here we are given population infinite p = 50% = 0.50 (we consider the sample proportion or percentage of incidence or prevalence as 50%) q = 1- p = 1- 0.50 = .50 z = 1.96 for a 95% of confidence interval d = margin of error = 5% = 0.05

calculation
z 2 pq 1.962 * 0.50 * 0.50 n 2 d .052 .9604 384.16 .0025
The required sample size is 384