If you are talking about TIG welding on carbon or stainless steel you can change the cup size for may different reasons.
1. Go to a bigger cup when welding on wider welds to give a better gas coverage of the molten puddle.
2. To make walking the cup a bit easier many welders will use a bigger cup on wider welds as well as a smaller cup on thinner welds.
3. When welding the first "root" pass welders generally use a smaller cup so that they can access the area at the bottom of the bevel to be welded better.
4. In windy situations you can turn up the flow a little as well as go to a bigger cup for better gas coverage of the molten puddle.
5. A bigger cup and higher flow rate will tend to cool the base metal some so it helps with weld "color" on stainless steel welds.
These are just a few reasons I can think of and I am sure there are many more. You can have to much flow rate but as long as you are not damaging the weld or base metal any size cup and flow rate will work and it is generally left up to the individual welder and what works best for him. keep in mind this is for basic stainless steel and carbon steel material and may not work for others.