It is now well known through the studies of Kostinski and Jameson that the exponent of the Z-R relation based on disdrometer data is strongly affected by the small sample problem. The retrieval of dsd parameters (using dual-polarized radar data) also involves power law relations of the form Z_h/N_w = a D₀^b, D₀= c Z_dr^d or Z_h/N_w = a (R/N_w)^b, and it is of interest to know if these exponents also suffer from the ‘small sample’ problem as distrometer data are also used to develop these relations. Note that N_w is the ‘intercept’ parameter of a normalized gamma dsd while D₀ is the median volume diameter. We show via simulations of the gamma pdf (with parameters µ and D₀) scaled by the number density, that the exponents of the above (normalized) power law relations are not as sensitive to the small sample problem as the Z-R power law. We also address the use of distrometer data to calculate the exponent (b) of ‘scaling’ law formulations of the dsd as proposed by Sempere-Torres. The evaluation of b is based on various moments of the measured dsd, which can be significantly affected by the small sample problem which we demostrate via simulations.