The adequacy of traditional effect size measures for research synthesis is challenged. Analogues to analysis of variance and multiple regression analysis for effect sizes are presented. The importance of tests for the consistency of effect sizes in interpreting results, and problems in obtaining well-specified models for meta-analysis are…

Using examples from government program evaluation studies, six areas where research synthesis is more effective than individual studies are presented. Research synthesis can: (1) help match treatment type with recipient type; (2) explain which treatment features matter; (3) explain conflicting results; (4) determine critical outcomes; (5) assess…

Meta-analysis techniques were used to synthesize research on the effectiveness of three major activity-based elementary science programs: (1) the Elementary Science Study, (2) Science--A Process Approach, and (3) the Science Curriculum Improvement Study. Implications for both widespread adoption and curricular decisions, as well as long term…

Reports a study using meta-analytical procedures to compare WISC-R subtest performance patterns of 29 samples of retarded, average, and above average intelligence children. Shows how the study results in distinct WISC-R profiles for each group and demonstrates how the subtest performance patterns are strongly related to overall intellectual level.…

Twenty-nine reports yielding 112 studies were analyzed with Glass's meta-analysis technique, and results were compared with predictions from Ausubel's model of assimilative learning. Overall, advance organizers were shown to be associated with increased learning and retention of material to be learned. (Author)

This study is the latest in a series of meta-analyses that Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) has conducted over the past several years to determine the characteristics of effective schools, leaders, and teachers. This most recent meta-analysis examines findings from 27 studies conducted since 1970 that used rigorous,…

This paper focuses on interpreting the major conceptual features of California's Academic Performance Index (API) as a coherent set of statistical procedures. To facilitate a characterization of its statistical properties, the paper casts the index as a simple weighted average of the subjective worth of students' normative performance and presents…

This report summarizes the pattern of employment in education for women and minorities from colonial times to the present. Initially, women taught basic skills to young children, and men taught in secondary schools, academies, and colleges. By the 1900s, administration was seen as separate from teaching. Women were seen as better at understanding…

A meta-analysis was conducted to determine whether there were differences between the assigned academic achievement levels of students who were assessed with traditional methods of assessment and those who were assessed with alternative methods. From the more than 800 studies identified through literature searches, 7 studies, with a total of 5,020…

Four aspects related to self-esteem and academic achievement were addressed in the review. The first goal was to address methodological considerations of self-esteem measurement. Support for some self-esteem measures, as well as caveats and directions for future research, were indicated. The second goal was to determine whether a relationship…

Explores the interdisciplinary nature of interdisciplinary research, provides a brief explanation of the Integrative Review of Research of which meta-analysis can be a part, and describes the librarian's role, particularly in data collection. Discusses developing trends in the area, including the use of the World Wide Web. (Author/LRW)

Conducted a meta-analytic review of 41 studies to explore the relation between children's aggressive behavior and hostile attribution of intent to peers. Found a significant association between hostile attribution of intent and aggressive behavior, with larger effects associated with more severe aggressive behavior, rejection by peers as a…

Conducted a reliability generalization meta-analysis of subscale and total scale scores on the Web-administered LibQUAL+ (tm) (Cook and others, 2002), a measure of library service quality. Data for 18,161 participants from 43 universities show that score reliabilities are remarkably invariant across campuses and different over groups. (SLD)

Used meta-analytic techniques to compare men's and women's attitudes toward homosexual persons, homosexual behaviors, and gay people's civil rights. As expected, size of sex differences varied across these categories. Men were more negative than women toward homosexual persons and homosexual behavior, but the sexes viewed gay civil rights…

Two estimators of effect size that are based on the sample quartiles are proposed and studied. One is for the situation where a treatment effect is evaluated against a control group, and the other is for a situation in which two parallel treatments are compared. Both are illustrated and evaluated. (SLD)