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A Guide to Conducting a Meta-Analysis
Mike W-L Cheung1, Ranjith Vijayakumar2
1Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, Block AS4, Level 2, 9 Arts Link, Singapore, 117570, Singapore. mikewlcheung@nus.edu.sg.
Abstract:
Meta-analysis is widely accepted as the preferred method to synthesize research findings in various disciplines. This paper provides an introduction to when and how to conduct a meta-analysis. Several practical questions, such as advantages of meta-analysis over conventional narrative review and the number of studies required for a meta-analysis, are addressed. Common meta-analytic models are then introduced. An artificial dataset is used to illustrate how a meta-analysis is conducted in several software packages. The paper concludes with some common pitfalls of meta-analysis and their solutions. The primary goal of this paper is to provide a summary background to readers who would like to conduct their first meta-analytic study.
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