Skip to content

[R-meta] Meta-analysis of meta-analyses

6 messages · Gladys Barragan-Jason, Gerta Ruecker, Wolfgang Viechtbauer +1 more

Gladys Barragan-Jason
# 
Dear all,

I would like to know whether it is possible to make a meta-analysis of
meta-analysis when several meta-analyses have been done on the same topic
if you can gather the number of studies, average effect size and number of
participants or is it more appropriate to simply do a systematic review of
meta-analyses to five a summary of a specific question/field.

Best wishes,
Gladys
Wolfgang Viechtbauer
# 
Dear Gladys,

This is sometimes called a 'second-order meta-analysis' or simply 'meta-meta-analysis'. The tricky part is that the different MAs are likely to include overlapping sets of studies, which introduces dependency between the various pooled estimates that is difficult to account for.

Best,
Wolfgang
Gerta Ruecker
# 
Dear all,

But you could easily identify the overlapping studies, couldn't you? Why 
not simply do a first-order meta-analysis of the union set of all 
studies found?

(Another, much more intricate problem is overlap between participants of 
different studies ...)

Best,

Gerta

Am 02.02.2022 um 11:03 schrieb Viechtbauer, Wolfgang (SP):

  
    

      
      
    

  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Wolfgang Viechtbauer
    

    

      
      #
    

  


  

      
Yes, of course - good point.

Best,
Wolfgang

            

      
      
      
    

        

      
      
    

            

      
      
      
    

  
  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      James Pustejovsky
    

    

      
      #
    

  


  

      
I wonder about exactly this question for most of the second-order meta-analyses that I have seen. Beyond issues of statistical dependence, SOMA tend to further conceal heterogeneity of effects. Averaging together averages makes it that much harder to understand the extent to which effect sizes vary across studies.

            

      
      
      
    

  
  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Gladys Barragan-Jason
    

    

      
      #
    

  


  

      
Thanks a lot for those helpful responses!
Best,
Gladys

Le mer. 2 f?vr. 2022 ? 14:54, James Pustejovsky <jepusto at gmail.com> a
?crit :