Meta-Analysis for Psychologists

"Meta-analysis is undoubtably the future for anyone that uses data to understand human behaviour. Not only does this book take the reader's understanding of their data to the next level, Richard's writing is as engaging as it is accessible. An important book for any researcher." —Megan Birney, Associate Professor, University of Birmingham, UK “"Meta-analysis for Psychologists is a surprisingly readable guide that makes meta-analysis techniques accessible to all psychologists." —Stuart Wilson, Senior Lecturer, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, UK This textbook provides a comprehensive, user-friendly guide to meta-analysis and how to conduct it, using open source software and based on examples commonly found in the field of psychology. Meta-analysis is a key tool used in systematic literature reviews to synthesize research findings across studies, but despite being relatively straightforward to perform, it remains underused by psychologists. In the first section the reader is introduced to key ideas that underlie meta-analysis and how it might be best employed. Following this the reader is guided through how to run a meta-analysis of correlational studies and experimental studies using the free and open statistical software JAMOVI. In the concluding section Professor Cooke considers common issues, key debates and examines the relative merits of different analyses and different software packages. - Covers theory, key issues and step-by-step demonstrations - Includes examples worked examples familiar to psychologists and datasets - Companion videos demonstrate the methods outlined It will provide a valuable new resource for postgraduate students and researchers in the behavioural and social sciences looking to enhance their methodological skills. Richard Cooke is Professor of Health Psychology at Staffordshire University, UK. Professor Cooke has an international reputation for using meta-analysis to test health psychology theories as predictors of health behaviours. He has authored five meta-analyses that have collectively been cited more than 1300 times and delivered numerous meta-analysis workshops. He has a lifelong love of meta-analysis and wants to encourage others to develop their skills in using this technique.