Smaller clinical trials for decision making; a case study to show p-values are costly.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Clinical trials might be larger than needed because arbitrary levels of statistical confidence are sought in the results. Traditional sample size calculations ignore the marginal value of the information collected for decision making. The statistical hypothesis testing objective is misaligned with the goal of generating information necessary for decision-making. The aim of the present study was to show that for a case study clinical trial designed to test a prior hypothesis against an arbitrary threshold of confidence more participants were recruited than needed to make a good decision about adoption.

Methods

We used data from a recent RCT powered for traditional rules of statistical significance. The data were also used for an economic analysis to show the interv

SUBMITTER: Graves N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9555245 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature