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What is the role of a pilot study, and how do I know if mine was successful?

My supervisor says I need to run a pilot before my main experiment. Is it just a smaller version of the real thing? What specific things should I be testing, and what results tell me I'm ready to proceed?

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By Alison Answered 1 year ago

A pilot is not a hypothesis test; it's a logistical and procedural dress rehearsal. Its success is not a statistically significant result, but a "yes" to these questions: 1) Are my procedures clear and feasible? (Did participants understand tasks? Did equipment work?) 2) Is my recruitment strategy effective? (Did I get the right subjects in a reasonable time?) 3) Do I have preliminary data to estimate effect sizes or variability for a proper power analysis? 4) Are there unforeseen ethical or practical issues? A successful pilot identifies and solves problems that could derail your main study. It often leads to crucial tweaks in wording, timing, or measurement. If you completed it and can now confidently design a robust main study with a realistic sample size, it was a success. Document everything you learned.

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