In clinical trials of nursing research, the sample size determination is one of the most important factor. Although sample size must be considered at the design stage, it has been disregarded in most clinical trials. The power analysis is usually performed before study begins to compute sample size and the power can also be calculated at the end of study in order to justify study result. The power analysis is essential especially when the clinical trials can not show significant differences. In this paper, we review the statistical methods for power analysis and sample size formulae in nursing research. Sample size formulae and the corresponding examples are discussed according to the six types of studies ; mean for one sample, proportion for one sample, means in two samples, proportions in two samples, correlation coefficient and ANOVA.