Meta-analysis
Meta-analysis is the set of statistical methods and practices for synthesizing evidence collected from multiple sources, such as multiple studies on the same topic. Often conducted as part of a systematic literature review, meta-analyses play an increasingly prominent role in education research, psychology, and many other areas of social and behavior science. This course introduces the stages of the research synthesis process and the statistical methods used for conducting quantitative syntheses of social-scientific research. The focus of the course is on practical application and interpretation of meta-analytic methods, enriched with discussion of underlying statistical theory. Major topics include scope of research syntheses, systematic search and screening procedures, effect size calculations, summary meta-analysis, meta-regression, dependent effect sizes, selective reporting and publication bias analysis. Computational exercises use the R statistical computing environment.
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