The Statistical Analysis of Small Data Sets

This book offers advice on the statistical analysis of small data sets (which are often used for ethical, financial, or practical reasons) for various designs and levels of measurement, helping researchers to analyse such data sets, but also to evaluate and interpret others' analyses.

We live in the era of big data. However, small data sets are still common for ethical, financial, or practical reasons. Small sample sizes can cause researchers to seek out the most powerful methods to analyse their data, but they may also be wary that some methodologies and assumptions may not be appropriate when samples are small. The book offers advice on the statistical analysis of small data sets for various designs and levels of measurement, helping researchers to analyse such data sets, but also to evaluate and interpret others'' analyses. The book discusses the potential challenges associated with a small sample, as well as the ways in which these challenges can be mitigated. General topics with strong relevance to small sample sizes such as meta-analysis, sequential and adaptive designs, and multiple testing are introduced. While the focus is on hypothesis tests and confidence intervals, Bayesian analyses are also covered. Code written in the statistical software R is presented to carry out the proposed methods, many of which are not limited to use on small data sets, and the book also discusses approaches to computing the power or the necessary sample size, respectively.