Understanding Meta Analysis: a subjective interpretation of an 'objective' analysis

Principal Investigator: Mary Ellen Macdonald
Co-Investigators:            J. Boivin, J. Brophy, F. Carnevale, A. Furlan, R. Kakuma, R. Platt, M. Rossignol & R. Steele
Funding Source:              Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Period:                                 2008–2012

This project is designed to better understand how meta-analysts interpret meta-analyses, and in so doing, to characterize convergences and divergences in how meta-analysts believe they interpret meta-analyses and how they actually interpret meta-analyses. Using a three phase design, we will: a) capture the frameworks and reasoning processes meta-analysts believe they use when interpreting meta-analysis; b) assist meta-analysts to make explicit the frameworks and reasoning processes they actually employ in doing such a review; and ultimately c) bring meta-analysts together to reflect as a group on discrepancies in the review processes vis-a-vis current research standards.

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