Sample size and statistical significance in Google Analytics

Posted by colmcq on Pro Webmasters See other posts from Pro Webmasters or by colmcq
Published on 2012-06-28T15:06:12Z Indexed on 2012/06/28 15:25 UTC
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I have been asked to compile a report into dropout rates during checkout for a global webstore

I have used a sample size over one month as my sample because:

  1. google analytics slows to a crawl over larger sample sizes and makes much of the analysis agonisingly small
  2. I believe it to be statistically significant and a representative sample

My client has asked me why I didn't use yearly figures and wants proof that one month of data is 'statistically significant'.

Am I right in thinking that I need to compare the standard deviation of my monthly sample to the yearly sample and ensure that the deviation is under a certain %age?

Question: how do I prove one month of Google Analytics data is representative to one year worth of data?

Stats:

  • 90k unique views/month
  • ~1.1m per year.

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