Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

When used together, systematic review methods and meta-analysis can produce comprehensive, accurate, and useful summaries of empirical evidence to answer questions that are relevant for policy, practice, and future research. Systematic reviews and meta-analysis can also uncover previously-undetected patterns of results across multiple studies, leading to new discoveries. For these reasons, systematic reviews and meta-analysis have become popular tools that are widely used – and misused – in the social, health, and natural sciences. A growing body of meta research has been used to develop evidence-based guidelines for the conduct and reporting of rigorous systematic reviews and meta-analysis. The Campbell Collaboration developed such guidelines for reviews in the social, behavioral, and economic sciences, and these guidelines undergird the content of this course.

A systematic approach is necessary to identify relevant studies and avoid well-documented sources of bias and error in the dissemination, assessment, and synthesis of research results across studies. Meta-analysis provides a set of statistical tools for analysis and synthesis of quantitative data from two or more studies.

The course provides an introduction to the methods of systematic reviews and meta-analysis. It is appropriate for graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, faculty, and senior researchers in institutions of higher education. It is geared for participants who have already completed introductory graduate level training in research methodology and statistics.

Access to the Open & Free version of the course is free of charge. It contains no scored assessment, has no schedule, and no instructor. Use it at your own pace. The content of this course may not be modified or adapted for other uses.