Please read the information at the following website:
https://web.archive.org/web/20150203151739/http://www.conceptstew.co.uk/PAGES/nsamplesize.html
In the class material this week you have read about probability and sampling distributions. Your textbook authors make an argument for larger sample sizes. They explain that larger sample sizes result in a smaller standard error and thus a stronger reliability. They say that the more scores that we have in a sample, the more confident we can be that the sample represents the population. In contrast the authors of the conceptstew website (see the link above) suggest that having too large of a sample size can actually lead to misleading results (you need to scroll down to the very end of this article otherwise you will miss the point and miss points on your posting look at what the authors say in the very last section labeled related issues)
1.) Please try to explain this discrepancy in your own words.
2.) In addition, explain your opinion as to the ethical responsibility of the researcher regarding sample size.
(If you are having a difficult time putting this question into context, please consider the following scenarios. First, I once worked on a project in which we were going to have access to more than 50,000 participants every year. With a sample size that enormous any very minor differences would have shown up as important according to the statistical analyses (see the internet article that you read). If I had found some new results that had not been found before with previous samples what would my ethical obligations have been in reporting and promoting those results? Just because they are statistically significant with such a large sample size, does that make them clinically significant? Second, in contrast, I remember a family member with cancer being offered an experimental drug. The physician reassured us that the drug had been studied and had been found to be very effective and safe. However later on I found out that the sample size for that study was only 10 patients. Can these results be generalized? Is there an ethical obligation for the researcher or the physician to take the sample size into consideration when reporting the results? For anyone interested in further information regarding effect size, power, and sample size, you are free to take a look at Cohens article on the subject http://www.bwgriffin.com/workshop/Sampling%20A%20Cohen%20tables.pdf or https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3840331/ )
Dont forget to respond to two other students postings. When you respond you can think about whether or not you agree with the other student regarding the ethical obligations of the researcher concerning sample size. You can also try to think about the obligations of the media in regards to sample size in reporting results of such studies.
Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.
[order_calculator]