We proposed a pilot clinical trial that was shot down by a local review
committee. Lacking any other guidance, we arbitrarily chose an alpha of
0.25 for doing the power calculations (reasoning that we didn't want to set
too stringent a standard for rejecting the null and not proceeding with a
more definitive trial). We were criticized for not adopting a more
conventional standard of alpha=0.10. I've never heard that there was any
convention for this sort of calculation.
Does anyone have any thoughts or references for sample size calculations
for pilot studies?
Thanks much in advance!
--Andy
--Andy Avins, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor
Department of Medicine
Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics
University of California, San Francisco
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tel: 415-597-9196
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