Doing Meta-Analysis with R - A Hands-On Guide

Abstract

Scientific synthesis is a diverse field of contemporary science. Syntheses advance knowledge in many domains and can include data compilation, theory syntheses, methods contrasts, and systematic reviews with meta-analyses through an integrated and big-picture view of evidence (Halpern et al. 2020). All these knowledge tools are typically strongly supported by statistical software including the open-source programming language R. Within this environment, there are nearly 100 packages to support meta-analyses each with different functions and specific capabilities (Lortie and Filazzola 2020). Meta-analyses are defined in most domains as the calculation of effect sizes or a weighted relative strength of evidence from a set of studies or trials to then subsequently examine high-level statistical patterns and variance (Gurevitch, Koricheva, Nakagawa, and Stewart 2018). They are increasingly used in many fields of science to examine consilience in hypotheses (Lortie 2014) and have been proposed as the gold or even platinum standard of evidence when there is statistical agreement in the efficacy of an intervention across studies (Stegenga 2011). Consequently, there is a critical need for accessible, pragmatic publications, resources, and texts that enable scientists with varying levels of expertise to engage in scientific syntheses using meta-analysis.