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Meta-analysis in ecology, evolution and environmental sciences (METR01)

1 message · Oliver Hooker

#
Apologies for cross posting and the flurry of posts.

Meta-analysis in ecology, evolution and environmental sciences (METR01)

https://www.prstatistics.com/course/meta-analysis-in-ecology-evolution-and-environmental-sciences-metr01/

This is a ?LIVE COURSE? ? the instructor will be delivering lectures
and coaching attendees through the accompanying computer practical?s
via video link, a good internet connection is essential.

TIME ZONE ? Western European Time +1 ? however all sessions will be
recorded and made available allowing attendees from different time
zones to follow a day behind with an additional 1/2 days support after
the official course finish date (please email
oliverhooker at prstatistics.com for full details or to discuss how we
can accommodate you).

Course overview:
This 5-day course will involve combination of lectures and practical
sessions where students will practice conducting meta-analysis using
the metafor package in R. In addition, students will conduct their own
mini-meta-analyses by working in small groups on an assigned
ecological topic with 8-10 primary research papers provided per topic.
Students would need to decide on effect size metric to use and
inclusion criteria, extract the data from the primary studies, design
the extraction spreadsheet, conduct meta-analysis using the metafor
package and present their results in the form of a PowerPoint
Presentation.

After successfully completing this course students should be able to:

formulate questions for meta-analysis
formulate inclusion criteria for primary studies to be included in the analysis
design spreadsheets for data extraction
conduct literature search on the topic
extract data from published studies
conduct meta-analysis using metafor package in R
present the results of the meta-analysis

Monday 30th ? Classes from 11:00 to 17:00
11:00-12:00 ? Intro to m-a in env sci, m-a in a nutschell, quesTion
formulation and intro to group excersises
12:00-13:00 ? Effect size measures and their calculation
BREAK
13:30-15:00 Combining effect sizes across studies, fixed vs random
effects models
15:00-17:00 Practical 1: using metafor to combine effect sizes across
studies using fixed and random effects models

Tuesday 1st ? Classes from 11:00 to 18:00
11:00-12:00 ? Exploring causes of heterogeneity with meta-regression
12:00-14:30 ? Practical 2: meta-regression in metafor
BREAK
15:00-16:00 ? Publication bias
16:00-18:00 ? Group exercise: question formulation, spreadsheet design
and start of data extraction

Wednesday 2nd ? Classes from 11:00 to 17:00
11:00-12:00 ? Statistical methods for bias detection
12:00-13:00 ? Practical 3: exploring publication and other biases in metafor
BREAK
13:30-14:30 ? Dealing with non-independence, including phylogenetic
non-independence
14:30-17:00 ? Group exercise: completion of data extraction, start of analyses

Thursday 3rd ? Classes from 11:00 to 17:00

11:30-12:30 ? Dealing with missing data and variable research quality
12:30-13:00 ? Format of meta-analytic report
13:00-14:00 ? Criticism of meta-analysis, alternatives to
meta-analysis, how not to do a meta-analysis and when not to do a
meta-analysis
BREAK
14:30-17:00 ? Group exercise: completion of meta-analysis and
preparation of presentations

Friday 4th ? Classes from 09:00 to 16:00
11:00-14:00 ? Group presentations (time slot might change depending on
number of participants and groups)
BREAK
14:00-17:00 Indiviudal consultations