title: Clinical audit for occupational therapy intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder: sampling steps and sample size calculation.
abstract: A priori sample size calculations are used to determine the adequate sample size to estimate the prevalence of the target population with good precision. However, published audits rarely report a priori calculations for their sample size. This article discusses a process in health services delivery mapping to generate a comprehensive sampling frame, which was used to calculate an a priori sample size for a targeted clinical record audit. We describe how we approached methodological and definitional issues in the following steps: (1) target population definition, (2) sampling frame construction, and (3) a priori sample size calculation. We recommend this process for clinicians, researchers, or policy makers when detailed information on a reference population is unavailable.
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Allied Health Evidence (iCAHE), Sansom Institute, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia. scott.weeks@unisa.edu.au.
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Weeks
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Allied Health Evidence (iCAHE), Sansom Institute, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia. alvin.atlas@unisa.edu.au.
authors.forename: Alvin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Atlas
mesh_terms: D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D054869:Clinical Audit / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D009788:Occupational Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards*; D018401:Sample Size; D012494:Sampling Studies