Meta-Analysis

Meta-analysis is a structured literature review technique that attempts to combine similar studies to determine the average effect size for a particular treatment under comparable circumstances with comparable participants.

Meta-analysis is all about putting the different pieces of the puzzle together in a scientific way. It combines the findings of many different studies using statistical methods. These studies offer a real, quantifiable sense of where the evidence is leading.

Cumulative Evidence

Cumulative evidence is another method used to look at the big picture. Rather than using a complex mathematical model, though, cumulative evidence simply means stacking up all the related studies and figuring out what they say overall.

Think of a fictional detective looking at fingerprints, eyewitness testimony, DNA evidence, and circumstantial evidence, and putting them all together to see what kind of case they build.

Image courtesy of American Institute of Cancer Research

 

Meta-analysis can be used as a guide to answer the question:

'Does what we are doing make a difference to X' even if 'X' has been measured using different instruments across a range of different people?

Meta-analysis provides a systematic overview of quantitative research that has examined a particular question.