A pilotstudy is a preliminary study to the larger study. It is typically limited in the number of subjects than you plan to include in the full study, or you may limit it because your scope is smaller in some other way; for example, the range of types of subjects may be more limited, or the procedures may be more limited. A pilot study can help work out some of the procedural bugs even though you know it is not likely to add anything new or important to your main study. Here are some more reasons to consider a pilot study:
1. It permits preliminary testing of the hypotheses that leads to testing more precise hypotheses in the main study. It may lead to changing some hypotheses, dropping some, or developing new hypotheses.
2. It often provides the researcher with ideas, approaches, and clues you may not have foreseen before conducting the pilot study. Such ideas and clues increase the chances of getting clearer findings in the main study.
3. It permits a thorough check of the planned statistical and analytical procedures, giving you a chance to evaluate their usefulness for the data. You may then be able to make needed alterations in the data collecting methods, and therefore, analyze data in the main study more efficiently.
4. It can greatly reduce the number of unanticipated problems because you have an opportunity to redesign parts of your study to overcome difficulties that the pilot study reveals.
5. It may save a lot of time and money. Unfortunately, many research ideas that seem to show great promise are unproductive when actually carried out. The pilot study almost always provides enough data for the researcher to decide whether to go ahead with the main study.
6. In the pilot study, the researcher may try out a number of alternative measures and then select those that produce the clearest results for the main study.