ABSTRACT
This chapter offers three approaches to decide upon the number of samples in an experiment. Rules of thumb are available to select the sample size, which do not require calculations. These rules are rooted in statistical principles. A confidence interval plot can be used to choose a data set size, and the results are similar to the rule of thumb. For a more quantitative approach associated with hypothesis testing, standard statistical formulas can be used to determine a suitable sample size to meet the confidence requirements.
