Uncertainty and Sensitivity Analysis

Uncertainty is a fact of life in any power analysis, because at least some of the numbers used are best guesses of unknown values. The result of a power calculation, whether it be achieved power or required sample size or something else, serves only as a point estimate, conditional on the conjectured values of the other components. It is not feasible in general to quantify the variability involved in using educated guesses or undocumented results to specify these components. If observed data are used, relevant adjustments for variability in the data tend to be problematic in the sense of producing confidence intervals for power that are too wide for practical use. But there is a useful way for you to characterize the uncertainty in your power analysis, and also discover the extent to which statistical power is affected by each component. You can posit a reasonable range for each input component, vary each one within its range, and observe the variety of results in the form of tables or graphs.