Department of Biostatistics, Dongguk University College of Medicine, Goyang, Korea.
Korean J Anesthesiol. 2021 Feb;74(1):23-29. doi: 10.4097/kja.20662. Epub 2021 Jan 26.
The aim of this paper is to introduce basic concepts and methods for calculating sample size in animal studies. At the planning stage of clinical studies, the determination of the sample size is a very important process to show the validity, accuracy, and reliability of the study. However, not all studies require a sample size to be calculated. Before conducting the study, it is essential to determine whether the study objectives suggest a pilot and exploratory study, as well as the purpose of testing the hypothesis of interest. Since most animal experiments are pilot and exploratory studies, it would be more appropriate to review other considerations for conducting an experiment while maintaining scientific and qualitative levels rather than sample size estimation. Sample size is calculated in various situations in animal studies. Therefore, it can be estimated according to the situations and objectives through the methods of precision analysis, power analysis, and so on. In some cases, nonparametric methods can be employed if the assumptions of normality is not met or a small sample is available for the study.
本文旨在介绍动物研究中计算样本量的基本概念和方法。在临床研究的规划阶段，确定样本量是展示研究有效性、准确性和可靠性的非常重要的过程。然而，并非所有研究都需要计算样本量。在进行研究之前，必须确定研究目标是否需要进行预试验和探索性研究，以及测试感兴趣的假设的目的。由于大多数动物实验都是预试验和探索性研究，因此在保持科学和定性水平的同时，审查进行实验的其他考虑因素而不是样本量估计更为合适。在动物研究中，样本量会在各种情况下进行计算。因此，可以根据情况和目标通过精度分析、功效分析等方法进行估计。在某些情况下，如果不符合正态性假设或研究样本量较小，可以采用非参数方法。
