English

Argus: Interactive a priori Power Analysis

Human-Computer Interaction 2020-09-17 v1

Abstract

A key challenge HCI researchers face when designing a controlled experiment is choosing the appropriate number of participants, or sample size. A prior power analysis examines the relationships among multiple parameters, including the complexity associated with human participants, e.g., order and fatigue effects, to calculate the statistical power of a given experiment design. We created Argus, a tool that supports interactive exploration of statistical power: Researchers specify experiment design scenarios with varying confounds and effect sizes. Argus then simulates data and visualizes statistical power across these scenarios, which lets researchers interactively weigh various trade-offs and make informed decisions about sample size. We describe the design and implementation of Argus, a usage scenario designing a visualization experiment, and a think-aloud study.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2009.07564,
  title  = {Argus: Interactive a priori Power Analysis},
  author = {Xiaoyi Wang and Alexander Eiselmayer and Wendy E. Mackay and Kasper Hornbæk and Chat Wacharamanotham},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2009.07564},
  year   = {2020}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-23T18:34:49.787Z