Hi,
I'm new to research. I'm evaluating the impact of a pharmacist led medicines optimisation review with the aim of reducing falls in the elderly. I'm stuck on how to choose a sample size? Similar studies talk about basing it off previous studies but I cannot find any that fits. With the sample size calculators I don't know how to assign a number to the population. Thanks for any advice!
Ema
First step is deciding how wide/narrow you want your intervals to be, or if you are using hypothesis testing what the minimum effect size that you want to detect. These aren't stats question, so consult those in the pharm industry to decide.
In addition to Daniel Wright suggestion you might want to look at Schaefer et al Elementary Survey Sampling downloadable from the z-library. Best wishes David Booth
Hi,
There are several steps to zero down to the problem mentioned by you.
From the existing literature:
Firstly, get the average and intervals of falls in different ages and sex groups above 65 years.
Second, similarily different diseases could lead or predispose to falls.
Third, Medications that could lead to falls. You can focus on a few of them.
Already, books on medicine and pharmacology give these ranges.
with the above data, now work on formulating a research question, primary and secondary objectives.
Next, you can now calculate sample sizes. There are free apps and software available. One of them is G*power.. Here you will require the help of a researcher to design a study and appropriate sample size calculator.
In addition to all the above suggestions, the followings should be considered;
- Objective of your research (to compare, to explore an incidence, or to investigate the association among variables). Different objectives, different research designs.
- Research design (survey, retrospective, observational cohort, or cohort with intervention).
- Type of variable or outcomes. Different types, different statistic testings.
- Statistical testing be used. Different tests, different sample sizes.
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