Power Analysis

Power Analysis
A statistical test's power is the probability that the test procedure will result in statistical significance. Power is related to the sample size, the size of the type I (alpha) error, the actual size of the effect, and the size of experimental error. All of these must be considered in order to calculate statistical power.

As statistical significance is usually the desired outcome, planning and running a study to achieve a high power is of prime importance to the researcher. Because of the complexity of the calculations, the determination of the power is often ignored or only a casual attempt is made at its calculation by adopting some, so-called, "rule-of-thumb."