Description

Meta-analysis is a statistical tool for combining the results of primary studies on the same topic, considering study precision. Often used in the context of a quantitative systematic literature review, meta-analysis allows (i) to assess the consistency of results across studies, (ii) to drawn general conclusions, and (iii) to identify research gaps. Meta-analysis is especially useful to (i) test hypotheses that have not yet been tested empirically, (ii) test predictions of ecological hypotheses, (iii) assess the impacts of changes in environmental factors (e.g., due to human activities), (iv) test the effects of covariates that are difficult to examine within a single study, and (v) assess the effectiveness of management practices. This workshop will introduce the basics of meta-analysis and familiarize the participants with the methodology, as well as prepared them to assess the quality and interpret the results of published meta-analyses. The theoretical topics will be accompanied by the performance of a live meta-analysis based on a matrix that will be provided to the participants in advance so that they can follow the procedures simultaneously on their own laptops. The meta-analysis will be carried out using the open access software OpenMEE, which participants can download in advance (http://www.cebm.brown.edu/openmee/download.html).

Program, 9h00 – 17h00

- Context
- Systematic review and meta-analysis
- Types of data in ecology
- Effect size and precision

(break)

- Overall effect size
- Random effects model
- Forest plot
- Publication bias

(lunch)

- Heterogeneity
- Subgroup analysis
- Meta-regression

(break)

- Sensitivity analysis
- Quality in meta-analysis
- Meta-analysis report
- Software & bibliography

Specific prerequisites of the participants

Participants should bring their own laptop, where they should have installed the open source software OpenMEE (http://www.cebm.brown.edu/openmee/download.html); the software often has problems when used on Mac, and therefore a Windows environment should preferentially be used.

Name, affiliation and contact of the lecturer

Verónica Ferreira
MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre
ARNET – Aquatic Research Network

University of Coimbra
Portugal

veronica(at)ci.uc.pt

The minimum number of participants is 6 and the maximum is 40 people. 
Please register for this workshop via the conference email address: plpf(at)misc.rptu.de