Chaos theory has been applied to a variety of variable stars, but few convincing candidates for chaos have been identified. Here, well-established analysis methods have been applied to some very extensive data sets of rapidly oscillating Ap (roAp) stars and one white dwarf. It it shown that in spite of the amount of data, the signal-to-noise ratio makes positive detection of chaos extremely difficult, especially due to scintillation noise. A new form of dimension computation is presented and discussed. Simple models were constructed to show what noise levels can be tolerated before the detection of chaos is no longer possible and comparisons are drawn with data that could be obtained in the future from space. The lack of phase and amplitude stability in HD 134214 and mode switching in HD217522 and HD 137949 are pointed out as the possible results of chaos, making frequent monitoring of roAp stars desirable.