There are various "references" on the Internet that delve into some discussion about what factors to consider when selecting a particular RAID stripe size (4KB to 128KB or more) for an array of disks, but none of these come across as very authoritative nor consistent with each other really.
For example:
John's Tech Bits
Stripe Width and Size
RAID Optimization Guide
In particular, it would seem that several factors come into play relative to the particulars of file system type (FAT, NTFS, etc.), file system cluster sizes, caching strategy, disk driver command dispatch strategy, whether or not multiple commands can be queued (tagged queuing) to the drives in question, etc.
What I am looking for is an authoritative, data driven and referenced dissertation on exactly what all the factors for consideration really are and ultimately how to take an analytical approach to selecting the optimal stripe size for a given application without going through the brute force exercise of trying all the combinations of these factors to see what results in the best performance.