What does meta-analysis do?

What does meta-analysis do?

• A. Collects bibliographic data and writes narrative.
• B. Reviews the quality of evidence without numbers.
• C. Quantitatively combines effect sizes across studies.
• D. Identifies gaps in the literature qualitatively.

Answer: (C)

Meta-analysis is a statistical method that integrates results from multiple studies by converting their findings into a common effect size and then pooling these effects to produce a single overall estimate. This quantitative synthesis increases precision and power, helping to determine whether an effect is present across studies and whether it’s consistent or varies (heterogeneity). Other approaches describe narrative reviews that summarize findings without numbers, or qualitative assessments like judging study quality or identifying gaps, which do not combine data numerically—the defining feature of meta-analysis.

Meta-analysis is a statistical method that integrates results from multiple studies by converting their findings into a common effect size and then pooling these effects to produce a single overall estimate. This quantitative synthesis increases precision and power, helping to determine whether an effect is present across studies and whether it’s consistent or varies (heterogeneity). Other approaches describe narrative reviews that summarize findings without numbers, or qualitative assessments like judging study quality or identifying gaps, which do not combine data numerically—the defining feature of meta-analysis.