Brighter than the sun: Powerscape visualizations illustrate power needs in neuroscience and psychology

TL;DR

This paper introduces Powerscape visualizations that help researchers easily understand the power requirements of their studies, especially when effect sizes are small, improving experimental planning in neuroscience and psychology.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel visualization tool, Powerscape, that makes statistical power demands immediately visible for better experimental design in neuroscience and psychology.

Findings

Powerscape visualizations effectively illustrate power needs.

The tool highlights underestimation risks in study planning.

Applicable to small effect size scenarios.

Abstract

Participant needs to achieve a given power are frequently underestimated. This is particularly problematic when effect sizes are small, such as is common in neuroscience and psychology. We provide tools to make these demands immediately obvious in the form of a powerscape visualization.