To determine the scale factor for dilating a square from a side length of 8 units to a side length of 20 units, you can use the formula for the scale factor:
\[ \text{Scale Factor} = \frac{\text{New Side Length}}{\text{Original Side Length}} \]
Substituting the values:
\[ \text{Scale Factor} = \frac{20}{8} = 2.5 \]
Therefore, the scale factor you should use is \(2.5\).