The business of science is formulating generalizable insight. No one study, taken singly, establishes the basis for such insight. Meta-analysis, however, can be used to determine if results generalize and to estimate the mean and the variance of effect sizes across studies (J. Hunter and F. Schmidt, 1990). Meta-analysis inquiries treat studies…

This paper demonstrates that a meta-analysis technique applied to the Solomon Four-Group Design (SFGD) can fail to find significance even though an earlier "weaker" test may have found significance. The meta-analysis technique was promoted by Braver and Braver as the most powerful single test for analyzing data from an SFGD. They…

Meta-analysis is a rigorous and formal methodology for drawing conclusions about a body of research surrounding a particular conceptual focus. Its appropriate use depends on making the underlying assumptions of the technologies explicit. (JOW)

In this introduction to the applicaton of meta-analysis as a quantitative synthesis technique, several alternative approaches to research synthesis are described. Their advantages and disadvantages, as compared to those of the techniques of meta-analysis. Decisions that must be faced by the prospective user of meta-analysis are described.…

Meta-analysis techniques were employed to integrate statistically the findings from 74 studies on early intervention with handicapped preschoolers. Findings indicate that early intervention produces positive sizeable effect size; that longer, more intense programs are associated with efficacy; and that little support was found for commonly held…

The author asserts that meta-analysis allows gifted educators and researchers to overcome obstacles of imprecise measurement and small samples. He reviews the technique, responds to critiques of the approach, and presents current research using meta-analysis. (CL)

Offers an alternative interpretation of the Primary Mental Health Project's (PMHP) outcome, based on meta-analysis of the empirical data currently available. Results showed that effect sizes coincide reasonably well with those of past PMHP outcome studies. Positive outcomes for the typical PMHP-referred child are only inconsistently found. (BH)

Some 23 journals in educational psychology and related fields, including two organizational "flagship" journals with circulations over 50,000, now "require" effect size reporting. This paper reviews some of the many effect size choices available to researchers. Effect size measures can be grouped into measures of association strength and measures…

Contemporary educational research is marked by diversity, complexity, and richness of purposes, methods, and perspectives. A framework, the Methodologically Inclusive Research Synthesis (MIRS), has been developed to offer a set of guidelines to facilitate informed choices at the critical decision points of any research synthesis process. The MIRS…

This digest makes the case that careful planning of replication can enhance the interpretability of applied research. When results are consistent across several studies, there is a stronger basis for observed relationships than the support that is available within each study by itself, since results that have been replicated are considered more…

This Digest provides a review and applications of the concepts of normal distribution, standard deviation, effect size, and translation of effect size into percentile gain, the foundations for the understanding of meta analytic results. Meta analysis is a statistical technique that enables the results of a number of studies to be combined to…

The reanalysis of data to answer the original research question with better statistical techniques or to answer new questions with old data is not uncommon in quantitative studies. Meta analysis and research syntheses have increased with the increase in research using similar statistical analyses, refinements of analytical techniques, and the…

The appropriate use of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) necessitates thoughtful researcher judgment concerning a number of analytic decisions. This paper reviews some of the fundamental decisions necessary to conduct an EFA and examines reporting practice in published research across four journals. In general, insufficient information was given…

Studies of the reliability and validity of scores on the Religious Orientation Scale (G. Allport and J. Ross, 1967) were reviewed with respect to social desirability. Meta analysis shows that one scale correlates with social desirability, but another does not, suggesting that partialing out this variance is not recommended. (SLD)

Studied the main effects of problem-based learning on knowledge and skills and explored potential moderators of the effect of problem-based learning in a meta-analysis of 43 articles. Findings show a robust positive effect on skills, but a tendency to a negative effect, strongly influenced by two studies, on student knowledge. (SLD)