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Introduction to Meta-Analysis
The new edition of the market-leading textbook, covering the latest developments in the rapidly growing field of meta-analysis
This book provides a clear and thorough introduction to meta-analysis, the process of synthesizing data from a series of separate studies. The first edition of this text was widely acclaimed for the clarity of the presentation, and quickly established itself as the definitive text in this field. The fully updated second edition includes new and expanded content on avoiding common mistakes in meta-analysis, understanding heterogeneity in effects, publication bias, reporting the Knapp-Hartung Sidik-Jonkman adjustment, and more. Several brand-new chapters provide a systematic "how to" approach to performing and reporting a meta-analysis from start to finish.
Written by four of the world's foremost authorities on all aspects of meta-analysis, the new edition of Introduction to Meta-Analysis:
Outlines the role of meta-analysis in the research process Shows how to compute effects sizes and treatment effects Explains the fixed-effect and random-effects models for synthesizing data Demonstrates how to assess and interpret variation in effect size across studies Explains how to avoid common mistakes in meta-analysis Discusses controversies in meta-analysis Includes access to a companion website containing videos, spreadsheets, data files, free software for prediction intervals, and step-by-step instructions for performing analyses using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA) (TM)
This book provides a clear and thorough introduction to meta-analysis, the process of synthesizing data from a series of separate studies. The first edition of this text was widely acclaimed for the clarity of the presentation, and quickly established itself as the definitive text in this field. The fully updated second edition includes new and expanded content on avoiding common mistakes in meta-analysis, understanding heterogeneity in effects, publication bias, reporting the Knapp-Hartung Sidik-Jonkman adjustment, and more. Several brand-new chapters provide a systematic "how to" approach to performing and reporting a meta-analysis from start to finish.
Written by four of the world's foremost authorities on all aspects of meta-analysis, the new edition of Introduction to Meta-Analysis:
Outlines the role of meta-analysis in the research process Shows how to compute effects sizes and treatment effects Explains the fixed-effect and random-effects models for synthesizing data Demonstrates how to assess and interpret variation in effect size across studies Explains how to avoid common mistakes in meta-analysis Discusses controversies in meta-analysis Includes access to a companion website containing videos, spreadsheets, data files, free software for prediction intervals, and step-by-step instructions for performing analyses using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA) (TM)
640 pages, ebook
First published January 14, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 13, 2015
Very technical manual on conducting a meta-analysis. This book has me quaking in my boots, but I feel it is a thorough reference that will become dog-eared as I progress through my dissertation. :-)
July 9, 2017
This is an amazing example of how a book on applied statistics can be written - hands-on, keeping the math 'formal enough', full of actually useful examples.
April 28, 2025
This is pretty much just what it says on the cover: an introduction to the mathematical or statistical techniques used to combine research results from disparate studies using meta-analysis. I particularly appreciate the level of detail the book provides. Each technique is fully explained and the book contains several worked examples walking the reader through the entire process of performing a meta-analysis. Readers looking for a book specifically on applied statistics will find it useful because it skips right to the applications rather than getting bogged down in proofs and theory (personally, I wouldn’t have minded some more theory, but that’s not the point of this sort of a book, so the authors actually did the right thing overall).
The one place I do think they should have spend some more time is on the design of meta-analytic studies themselves. Obviously this is not a book on research design, but it would have been useful had the authors devoted at least a chapter to the considerations one should keep in mind when choosing which studies to include or exclude and how to weight them. As it stands, readers who are as new to meta-analysis as to most benefit from this sort of introductory work will likely need to pick up at least one other book to fill in some of those gaps.
There is a chapter near the back that deals with some of the more philosophical considerations and addresses some of the common objections to meta-analysis. That’s quite useful, but probably would have been better placed near the front of the book so the reader could develop a more robust conceptual understanding of the subject before diving right in to all the formulae.
On the whole, I found it quite useful, but will likely need to supplement it with additional reading before I can actually make use of it.
The one place I do think they should have spend some more time is on the design of meta-analytic studies themselves. Obviously this is not a book on research design, but it would have been useful had the authors devoted at least a chapter to the considerations one should keep in mind when choosing which studies to include or exclude and how to weight them. As it stands, readers who are as new to meta-analysis as to most benefit from this sort of introductory work will likely need to pick up at least one other book to fill in some of those gaps.
There is a chapter near the back that deals with some of the more philosophical considerations and addresses some of the common objections to meta-analysis. That’s quite useful, but probably would have been better placed near the front of the book so the reader could develop a more robust conceptual understanding of the subject before diving right in to all the formulae.
On the whole, I found it quite useful, but will likely need to supplement it with additional reading before I can actually make use of it.
December 1, 2019
This book provides a systematical way about meta-analysis, covering both basic concepts and advanced issues. Not focus on mathematics in detail but try to convey the main ideas and theories,the readers will not get lost in so many equations in meta-analysis. Postgraduates and researchers in health fields are suitable readers for it. The references provided in this book are also plus points. I read it as studying a meta-analysis course and conducting research on meta-analysis in my master's program.
July 25, 2017
Simple language but it doesn't go as complex as some of us with stupid projects need
March 19, 2016
PERFECT FOR YOUR FIRST MA PROJECT!!!!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews