Research Ethics Committees as an intervention point to promote a priori sample size calculations

Abstract

Studies in the health and life sciences often use sample sizes too small to robustly answer the research questions at hand. By performing a formal sample size calculation before beginning a study, researchers can overcome this issue. One potential avenue to promote the uptake of sample size calculation is through Research Ethics Committees (RECs). We assessed template ethics submission forms from 10 RECs from research-intensive universities in each of the United States and the United Kingdom (for 20 forms in total). We found that 19 of them requested that researchers provide the planned sample size, 12 requested a justification of the sample size, and 6 requested a sample size calculation. Future research could investigate the effectiveness of sample size requests from RECs and compare this approach to intervening through other mechanisms, such as Scientific Review Committees or funding agencies.

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