A Primer for Using Meta-Analysis to Consolidate Research

Abstract

The article provides an introduction to interpreting meta-analysis in the context of synthesizing results of studies that examine the role of culture on drug use behaviors. Topics reviewed include using effect size to indicate the strength of a relationship in a primary study, combining effects in weighted models to yield a summary effect, and understanding how study-level moderators help to explain the heterogeneity in effect dispersion across investigations. The advantages of meta-analytic procedures for consolidating preexisting knowledge are highlighted.

Keywords :

• meta-analysis
• effect size
• quantitative review
• literature review

Notes

1 Editor's note. A caveat that goes beyond meta-analysis merits consideration. A research culture on drug use continues to exist in which programs of statistical and practical significance are implemented, but the stakeholder activities influenced by contextual systems are rarely if ever studied. The interested reader is referred to: Beccaria, Franca, Einstein, Stan & Thom, Betsy, (2013) Stakeholders in Opioid Drug User Treatment Policy: Similarities and Differences in Six European Countries Substance Use and Misuse 48:11.