Testing the null hypothesis in meta-analysis: A comparison of combined probability and confidence interval procedures.

Abstract

Combined significance tests (combined p values) and tests of the weighted mean effect size are both used to combine information across studies in meta-analysis. This article compares a combined significance test (the Stouffer test) with a test based on the weighted mean effect size as tests of the same null hypothesis. The tests are compared analytically in the case in which the within-group variances are known and compared through large-sample theory in the more usual case in which the variances are unknown. Generalizations suggested are then explord through a simulation study