More is Not Always Better

摘要

Having more data is better, statisticians often say. But, as with much in life, the devil is in the details as to how to interpret such a statement. All things being equal, if offered a choice between small or large sample sizes, the larger sample size is preferred. Or is it?rnWhat do we mean by "all things being equal"? In this case, the larger sample is still a representative sample of the same population we are trying to characterize. Clearly, having a larger sample that was taken from a different population or consisting of data from several different populations would be a poor alternative tornthe smaller sample taken from the "right" population.