A meta-analysis is a statistical procedure for combining numerical data from multiple separate studies.
A meta-analysis should only ever be conducted in the context of a systematic review
.
Are all meta-analysis systematic reviews?
This is called meta-analysis, and it represents a specialized subset of systematic reviews. Not all systematic reviews include meta-analysis, but
all meta-analyses are found in systematic reviews
.
Can you have a meta analysis without a systematic review?
Sometimes if you have access to the numerical data you may not have to do a systematic review. For example some drug companies run trials and have the data so they run a meta-analysis without doing a systematic review. So: 1)
There are many systematic reviews without
performing a meta-analysis.
Is a meta-analysis the same as a systematic review?
A systematic review attempts to gather all available empirical research by using clearly defined, systematic methods to obtain answers to a specific question. A meta-analysis is the
statistical process of analyzing and combining results from several similar studies
.
When should you not do a meta-analysis?
Meta-analyses of studies that are
at risk of bias
may be seriously misleading. If bias is present in each (or some) of the individual studies, meta-analysis will simply compound the errors, and produce a ‘wrong’ result that may be interpreted as having more credibility.
What are the disadvantages of meta-analysis?
Additionally, meta-analyses can be poorly executed.
Carelessness in abstracting and summarizing appropriate studies
, failure to consider important covariates, bias on the part of the meta-analyst and overstatements of the strength and precision of the results can all contribute to invalid meta-analyses.
What is the difference between a literature review and a meta-analysis?
A Literature review is the analysis of all existing literature in a field of study. … Meta Analysis, on the other hand, is
an analysis of similar scientific studies to establish an estimate closest to the common point of truth that exist between them
.
How do you tell if a paper is a meta-analysis?
In most Library databases, you can find meta-analysis research articles
by using meta analysis as a search term
. There are a few databases that have special limiters for publication type or methodology in the advanced searching section.
What is an example of meta-analysis?
For example, a systematic review will focus specifically on the relationship between
cervical cancer and long-term use of oral contraceptives
, while a narrative review may be about cervical cancer. Meta-analyses are quantitative and more rigorous than both types of reviews.
How many studies do you need in a meta-analysis?
Two studies
is a sufficient number to perform a meta-analysis, provided that those two studies can be meaningfully pooled and provided their results are sufficiently ‘similar’.
Is it hard to do a meta-analysis?
Although meta-analysis is becoming evermore popular,
it can be difficult to undertake without the guidance of an experienced meta-analyst
. However, if one is motivated and has a good statistics background, even a novice can perform a meta-analysis.
What is the main purpose of a meta-analysis?
Meta-analyses are conducted
to assess the strength of evidence present on a disease and treatment
. One aim is to determine whether an effect exists; another aim is to determine whether the effect is positive or negative and, ideally, to obtain a single summary estimate of the effect.
What are the problems with meta-analysis?
Several problems arise in meta-analysis:
regressions are often non-linear
; effects are often multivariate rather than univariate; coverage can be restricted; bad studies may be included; the data summarised may not be homogeneous; grouping different causal factors may lead to meaningless estimates of effects; and the …
What is the advantage of using a meta-analysis?
Meta-analysis provides
a more precise estimate of the effect size and increases the generalizability of the results of individual studies
. Therefore, it may enable the resolution of conflicts between studies, and yield conclusive results when individual studies are inconclusive.
What are the disadvantages of review and meta-analysis?
The main limitations that can affect systematic reviews are
publication bias (and others similar as language bias)
, bias risks in primary studies (methodological limitation of primary studies), and difficulties in combining studies that may have differences in populations, interventions, comparators and definition of …
