ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a description and critical analysis of three rules of thumb related to sample size that are commonly used by researchers in the organizational and social sciences. Thus, similar to the chapter by Vandenberg and Grelle (2008), our chapter does not address faulty assumptions or improper citations that can be traced back to an original source and have risen to the category of “statistical and methodological myths and urban legends.” Instead, we provide a critical analysis of these rules of thumb that we hope will provide information that will be useful to researchers in their own work as well as journal reviewers who evaluate the work of others. We also hope that by discussing these rule of thumbs critically we will prevent them from possibly becoming statistical and methodological myths and urban legends in the future.
