Meta analysis Flashcards
What is a meta-analysis?
Statistical analysis that combines the results of multiple scientific studies - doing statistics on data that already exists.
Is a meta-analysis primary or secondary data?
Secondary data
How is a meta-analysis carried out?
Collect a sample of existing research in a set topic
Analyse the data from all studies together to get a larger overview of statistical significance of the results
What is a strength of a meta-analysis in terms of generalisability?
Uses secondary data so a large sample can be gathered = more representative of the wider population
What is a strength of a meta-analysis in terms of validity?
Allows for further analysis to be conducted so more valid conclusions can be drawn from the data
What is a practical strength of a meta-analysis?
Quicker to conduct as it involves secondary data
Less expensive as you do not have to conduct the study yourself
What is a weakness of a meta-analysis in terms of validity?
Data may have been collected a while ago so no longer relevant to today
Researcher bias when choosing studies to include in the sample
Publication bias - non-significant findings are not published so findings from the meta-analysis may be skewed
How is a meta-analysis different to a review of studies?
Meta-analysis requires the researcher to statistically analyse the results from the existing data, review of studies does not
