International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

Meta-analysis is a set of methods and statistical analyses for summarizing the findings of an existing empirical literature. As the name implies, it is a study of studies. It provides a way to do a quantitative literature review that involves cumulating effects across studies (→  Quantitative Methodology ). The purpose of a meta-analysis is to ascertain if the findings from a collection of studies investigating some specific issue lead to some consistent result and, if so, to estimate the magnitude of that finding. If not, it serves to reconcile findings that appear to offer mixed support for a hypothesis. Meta-analysis is also useful in identifying the reasons why findings are inconsistent from study to study (→  Generalizability ) and to identify theoretically important moderators. Meta-analysis will likely play an increasingly important role in making sense out of social science research. The value of meta-analysis is particularly apparent when contrasted with the typical narrative review of sustained research on a topic. Due to the nature of social scientific research, the results of different studies investigating the same question will inevitably vary from study to study. Some of this variability is attributable to sampling error. That is, because studies seldom, if ever, include the entire population, estimates drawn from samples will likely depart from population values ... log in or subscribe to read full text