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[How to scientifically estimate sample size in physiological research]
Yi-Song Liu1, Chun-Xue Guo1, Wan Hu1
1Consulting Center of Biomedical Statistics, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100850, China.
Objective:
To bring about physiological researchers' attention of the importance of sample size estimation.
Methods:
The significance as well as the current problems of sample size estimation were illustrated and the commonly-used sample size estimation methods were introduced.
Results:
The basic concepts and necessary premises of sample size estimation were stated. The estimation processes and results under two different circumstances were elaborated in detail via examples.
Conclusions:
To attain the proper estimated sample sizes, the computation must satisfy the necessary premises which included the appropriate statistical analysis methods to be used.
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