What is a meta-analysis?
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An explanation of meta-analysis from Oxford University’s Centre for Evidence-Based Intervention.
Key Concepts addressed:Details
A meta-analysis is a method for statistically combining the results of studies that are included in a systematic review, to come to a conclusion about the overall effects of an intervention.
A single research trial or ordinary literature review can tell you if an intervention has a statistically significant effect. In other words, it will report on whether a treatment had an effect that could not have occurred by chance, and therefore is likely to have been brought about by the intervention.