LAUSR

We agree that small sample sizes are a major source of poor reproducibility but mildly disagree with the recommendation. The threshold of n ≥ 5 is arbitrary and has no mathematical justification. With a continuous variable, large effects and little variation, valid conclusions can be reached from experiments with n = 3 or 4 (de Winter, 2013). Examples where sample sizes<5 can bemeaningful because of large effect sizes are inducible genes such as interleukin-2 or reduction of gene expression by siRNA. Also, see the generic example below.