We develop statistical and mathematical based methodologies for determining (as the experiment progresses) the amount of information required to complete the estimation of stable population parameters with pre-specified levels of confidence. We do this in the context of life table models and data for growth/death for three species of Daphniids as investigated by J. Stark and J. Banks [17]. The ideas developed here also have wide application in the health and social sciences where experimental data are often expensive as well as difficult to obtain.