Synopses & Reviews
Meta-analysis can be understood as a form of survey research in which research reports, rather than people, are surveyed. But, how does a researcher select relevant research studies, code their various characteristics and quantitative findings, and analyze and describe their collective results in a valid and useful manner? Through an emphasis on practical procedures and a consideration of choices for implementing them, Lipsey and Wilson provide readers with an answer to this question in a user-friendly, state of the art presentation of meta-analysis. The authors lay out each step of meta-analysis from problem formulation through statistical analysis and the interpretation of results. This book offers readers the best of both worlds: Technical sophistication coupled with user-friendly, practical information for doing meta-analysis.
Synopsis
What research designs and methodological features qualify a study for meta-analysis and which disqualify it? What types of research reports are appropriate for the meta-analysis? What is the cultural and linguistic range of the studies to be included? By integrating and translating the current methodological and statistical work into a practical guide, the authors address these questions to provide readers with a state-of-the-art introduction to the various approaches to doing meta-analysis.
Synopsis
A book that describes the steps involved in a meta-analysis in an easy-to-understand format (not just as a cookbook recipe) will be a useful addition to the literature. Practical Meta-Analysis aptly fills this niche.
--ORGANIZATIONAL RESEARCH METHODS, April 2002
What research designs and methodological features qualify a study for meta-analysis and which disqualify it? What types of research reports are appropriate for the meta-analysis? What is the cultural and linguistic range of the studies to be included? By integrating and translating the current methodological and statistical work into a practical guide, the authors address these questions to provide readers with a state-of-the-art introduction to the various approaches to doing meta-analysis. Through the use of a simple metaphor, that of meta-analysis as a form of survey research in which research reports, rather than individual people, are surveyed, the authors show readers how to develop a coding form for their meta analysis, how to select and gather various research reports for the study, how to code the appropriate information about each study's characteristics, and how to analyze the resulting data using various software packages.