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Rethinking Meta-Analysis: Applications for Air Pollution Data and Beyond
Meta-analyses offer a rigorous and transparent systematic framework for synthesizing data that can be used for a wide range of research areas, study designs, and data types. Both the outcome of meta-analyses and the meta-analysis process itself can yield useful insights for answering scientific ques...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
2015
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4690509/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25969128 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/risa.12405 |
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author | Goodman, Julie E Petito Boyce, Catherine Sax, Sonja N Beyer, Leslie A Prueitt, Robyn L |
author_facet | Goodman, Julie E Petito Boyce, Catherine Sax, Sonja N Beyer, Leslie A Prueitt, Robyn L |
author_sort | Goodman, Julie E |
collection | PubMed |
description | Meta-analyses offer a rigorous and transparent systematic framework for synthesizing data that can be used for a wide range of research areas, study designs, and data types. Both the outcome of meta-analyses and the meta-analysis process itself can yield useful insights for answering scientific questions and making policy decisions. Development of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards illustrates many potential applications of meta-analysis. These applications demonstrate the strengths and limitations of meta-analysis, issues that arise in various data realms, how meta-analysis design choices can influence interpretation of results, and how meta-analysis can be used to address bias and heterogeneity. Reviewing available data from a meta-analysis perspective can provide a useful framework and impetus for identifying and refining strategies for future research. Moreover, increased pervasiveness of a meta-analysis mindset—focusing on how the pieces of the research puzzle fit together—would benefit scientific research and data syntheses regardless of whether or not a quantitative meta-analysis is undertaken. While an individual meta-analysis can only synthesize studies addressing the same research question, the results of separate meta-analyses can be combined to address a question encompassing multiple data types. This observation applies to any scientific or policy area where information from a variety of disciplines must be considered to address a broader research question. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4690509 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2015 |
publisher | John Wiley & Sons, Ltd |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-46905092015-12-31 Rethinking Meta-Analysis: Applications for Air Pollution Data and Beyond Goodman, Julie E Petito Boyce, Catherine Sax, Sonja N Beyer, Leslie A Prueitt, Robyn L Risk Anal Special Series Meta-analyses offer a rigorous and transparent systematic framework for synthesizing data that can be used for a wide range of research areas, study designs, and data types. Both the outcome of meta-analyses and the meta-analysis process itself can yield useful insights for answering scientific questions and making policy decisions. Development of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards illustrates many potential applications of meta-analysis. These applications demonstrate the strengths and limitations of meta-analysis, issues that arise in various data realms, how meta-analysis design choices can influence interpretation of results, and how meta-analysis can be used to address bias and heterogeneity. Reviewing available data from a meta-analysis perspective can provide a useful framework and impetus for identifying and refining strategies for future research. Moreover, increased pervasiveness of a meta-analysis mindset—focusing on how the pieces of the research puzzle fit together—would benefit scientific research and data syntheses regardless of whether or not a quantitative meta-analysis is undertaken. While an individual meta-analysis can only synthesize studies addressing the same research question, the results of separate meta-analyses can be combined to address a question encompassing multiple data types. This observation applies to any scientific or policy area where information from a variety of disciplines must be considered to address a broader research question. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 2015-06 2015-05-13 /pmc/articles/PMC4690509/ /pubmed/25969128 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/risa.12405 Text en © 2015 Society for Risk Analysis http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. |
spellingShingle | Special Series Goodman, Julie E Petito Boyce, Catherine Sax, Sonja N Beyer, Leslie A Prueitt, Robyn L Rethinking Meta-Analysis: Applications for Air Pollution Data and Beyond |
title | Rethinking Meta-Analysis: Applications for Air Pollution Data and Beyond |
title_full | Rethinking Meta-Analysis: Applications for Air Pollution Data and Beyond |
title_fullStr | Rethinking Meta-Analysis: Applications for Air Pollution Data and Beyond |
title_full_unstemmed | Rethinking Meta-Analysis: Applications for Air Pollution Data and Beyond |
title_short | Rethinking Meta-Analysis: Applications for Air Pollution Data and Beyond |
title_sort | rethinking meta-analysis: applications for air pollution data and beyond |
topic | Special Series |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4690509/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25969128 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/risa.12405 |
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