Meta-analysis as a method of increasing evidence of study results
Abstract
Considering the essence, purpose, possibilities and methodology used to conduct meta-analysisit is emphasized that the results of the research will be more useful in practice, if their reliability is confirmed by sufficient, and as much as possible homogeneous, statistical data.Attention is drawn to the fact that meta-analysis is more widely used in experimental sciences, in particular biology, genetics, medicine, pharmacology, etc., and is practically not used in economics, which negatively affects the objectivity of conclusions in the evaluation and forecasting of economic phenomena, processes, results.
The purpose of this study was to clarify the essence, possibilities and methods of application of the meta-analysis, in order to improve the results of a study.
Meta-analysis is a scientific method used to increase the number of observational indicators by involving the results of similar studies obtained by other authors at different times in order to form a representative statistically homogeneous complex that is used to confirm or disprove the scientific hypothesis formed by the researcher.
The effectiveness of the meta-analysis depends on the observation of a certain sequence, including a clear definition of the purpose of the study, the selection criteria in the statistical complex of the original research results received by other authors -the search for data sources can be included in our study- and the choice of specific indicators and statistical and mathematical methods of treatment formed sample. It is emphasized that the process of searching for data for meta-analysis is very time-consuming and requires a lot of responsibility, since its quality depends on minimizing the random and systematic errors associated with the studies that were selected to be included in the analysis. In order to do that, a qualitative data analysis is carried out, determining how much of the potential data is relevant to our study. In addition, the quality of the formed complex depends on a well-thought-out option of statistical and mathematical techniques, for example, the Mantel-Khanzel method and various approaches to performing meta-analysis - communicative, Bayesian, multifactorial, etc. They help assess the effect of homogeneity and sensitivity of the results obtained by the researcher from the use of various techniques. So just by taking into account these requirements, the quality of statistical data used during the meta-analysis is improved, thus guaranteeing the objectivity of the conclusions formed on its results.Keywords: meta-analysis, data heterogeneity, statistical complex, representative sampling, selection criteria, effect assessment, result sensitivity, scientific hypothesis
References
Haidutskyi P.I. NeZabutireformy v Ukraini / P.I. Haidutskyi. –K.: TOV DKS – tsentr, 2017. –852s.
Glass, G.V. (1976). ?’Primary, secondary, andmeta-analysisofresearch’’. Educational Researcher,5, 3-8.
Norman, S. –L. T. (1999). Tutorial in Biostatistics. Meta – Analysis: Formulating Evaluating, Combining, andReporting. StatisticsinMedicine, 18, 321 – 359.
Wilson, D.B., Lipsey, M.W. (2001). Practicalmeta – analysis. ThousandOaks: Sagepublications. ISBN 0-7619-2168-0).
BenBond – Lamberty, AllisonThomson. Temperature – associated increases in the global soil respiration record. Nature, 464S.
Internet-sait: http://statistica.ru/local - portals / medicine / meta-analiz/.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Relationship between right holders and users shall be governed by the terms of the license Creative Commons Attribution – non-commercial – Distribution On Same Conditions 4.0 international (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0):https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.uk
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
