Meta-analyses and effect sizes in applied behavior analysis: A review and discussion

For more than four decades, researchers have used meta-analyses to synthesize data from multiple experimental studies often to draw conclusions that are not supported by individual studies. More recently, single-case experimental design (SCED) researchers have adopted meta-analysis techniques to answer research questions with data gleaned from SCED experiments. Meta-analyses enable researchers to answer questions regarding intervention efficacy, generality, and condition boundaries. Here we discuss meta-analysis techniques, the rationale for their adaptation with SCED studies, and current indices used to quantify the effect of SCED data in applied behavior analysis.