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Why Perform A Meta-Analysis

The document discusses why meta-analyses are performed, noting that they synthesize data from multiple studies to better guide clinical decision making compared to single studies or narrative reviews. Meta-analyses use mathematical formulas and methods to determine statistical significance and consistency across studies.

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6 views

Why Perform A Meta-Analysis

The document discusses why meta-analyses are performed, noting that they synthesize data from multiple studies to better guide clinical decision making compared to single studies or narrative reviews. Meta-analyses use mathematical formulas and methods to determine statistical significance and consistency across studies.

Uploaded by

Mund
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Running Head: WHY PERFORM A META-ANALYSIS 1

Chapter 2: Why Perform a Meta-analysis

As the nursing discipline continues to advance along with evidence-based practice, nurses

worldwide look for the best available evidence and develop decisions to translate them to

practice, hoping to minimize the theory-to-practice gap. However, issues in clinical decision-

making exist. Are decisions made based on the results of a single study? Or are they made after

the synthesis of data across studies is made? This paper explores this idea and elucidates why a

meta-analysis is performed.

Today, decisions about whether or not an intervention is to be employed are in no

condition made using the results of a single study, which tends to vary from one study to another.

Instead, meta-analyses are conducted to synthesize data from multiple studies and serve as better

guides to clinical decision-making. As compared to narrative reviews, which have no

mechanisms to synthesize p-values, discuss the magnitude, or assess the consistency of effects,

meta-analyses generally have formulas and methods that are essential components of its

armamentarium (Borenstein, Hedges, Higgins, & Rothstein, 2009). Meta-analysis works on

effect sizes to determine statistical significance using mathematically rigorous mechanisms. On

top of this, meta-analysis transcends its boundaries and determines the consistency of effects

across studies. Lastly, meta-analysis applies methods that facilitate assessing dispersion effects

where real dispersions are distinguished from spurious dispersions.

On the whole, meta-analyses are performed to increase power, improve estimates of the

size of the effects, provide answers to questions not posed by individual studies, and resolve

uncertainty when individual study results disagree (Higgins & Green, 2011). However, the value

meta-analyses offer to a review depends on the context of their use, which could be anything

among those above.


WHY PERFORM A META-ANALYSIS 2

References

Borenstein, M., Hedges, L., Higgins, J., & Rothstein, H. (2009). Introduction to Meta-Analysis.

Hoboken, United States: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Higgins, J., & Green, S. (2011, March). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews for

Interventions Version 5.1.0. Retrieved from Cochrane Collaboration:

http://www.handbook.cochrane.org

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