Browsing by Author "Cooper, HM"
Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
- Results Per Page
- Sort Options
Item Open Access Ethical Issues in the Conduct and Reporting of Meta-Analysis(Handbook of Ethics in Quantitative Methodology, 2011-01) Cooper, HM; Dent, AA research synthesis focuses on empirical studies and attempts to summarize past research by drawing overall conclusions from separate studies that address the same or related hypotheses. The research synthesist’s goal is “to present the state of knowledge concerning the relation(s) of interest and to highlight important issues that research has left unresolved” (Cooper, 2010, p. 4). Meta-analysis is a type of research synthesis. It involves the statistical integration of data from separate but similar studies typically using the summary statistics presented in research reports. Meta-analysts (a) systematically collect as many published and unpublished reports addressing a topic as possible, (b) extract effect sizes from the reports, (c) statistically combine the effect sizes to obtain an estimate of the average effect size and the associated confidence interval, and (d) examine sample and study features that might influence study outcomes.Item Open Access Evaluating and Interpreting Research Syntheses in Adult Learning and Literacy(2007-01) Cooper, HMThis occasional paper introduces the methods of research synthesis and meta-analysis to researchers and consumers of research in the field of adult learning and literacy. To begin, the first section of the paper defines key terms and offers a brief history of how the methodologies developed. The second section provides a conceptualization of research synthesis that views it no differently from other research endeavors in the social sciences. Then, the tasks of research synthesis are presented in more detail within the context of a hypothetical example drawn from the literature on adult learning and literacy. (Contains 1 figure and 5 tables.)Item Open Access Research synthesis and meta-analysis(The SAGE Handbook of Applied Social Research Methods, 2008-08-27) Valentine, JC; Cooper, HMAs the volume of primary research across all fields of social science continues to grow at rapid rates, research synthesis has become more important today than at any other time in history. With the development of metaanalysis, a set of procedures for summarizing the quantitative results from multiple studies, the rigor, systematicity, and transparency of research syntheses was greatly improved. However, a number of developments, including the creation of the Cochrane Collaboration and Campbell Collaboration, have heightened the profile of meta-analysis in recent years. Furthermore, recent advancements in analytic strategies, including the use of a random effects model of error, the development of meta-regression, and improved methods for dealing with missing data and data censoring, have enhanced the popularity, efficiency, and trustworthiness of meta-analyses. We begin this chapter with a brief history of meta-analysis and research synthesis. We then describe the different stages of a rigorous research synthesis. Next, we outline a set of generally useful meta-analytic techniques and follow this with a discussion of some of the difficult decisions that research synthesists face in carrying out a meta-analysis. We conclude by addressing some broader issues concerning criteria for evaluating the quality of knowledge syntheses in general and meta-analyses in particular. A general theme of the chapter is that social scientists who are conducting research syntheses need to think about what distinguishes a good synthesis from a bad synthesis. This kind of effort is crucial for assessing the value of existing research syntheses and for promoting high-quality research synthesis in the future.Item Open Access The Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse Study Design and Implementation Assessment Device: Version 1.0(The Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse Study Design and Implementation Assessment Device: Version 1.0, 2003) Valentine, JC; Cooper, HM