A Teacher's Guide to Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Ms. Quinn, the special education director, convened her monthly meeting with the district's special education teachers. The theme of Ms. Quinn's discussion was the implementation of evidence-based practices required by the No Child Left Behind Act. During this discussion she brought up the term meta-analysis in reference to research studies, stressing that this type of literature review may be helpful when selecting effective practices for students with special needs. The term was a new one for many of the teachers and even the ones who were aware of the term were perplexed how meta-analysis could possibly impact their day-to-day classroom teaching.Technical terms such as meta-analysis, research synthesis, and effect size may sound alien to practitioners in the field of education. Due to limited knowledge on meta-analysis among educators, the results of meta-analyses seldom translate from research to classroom practice-even though metaanalyses may provide valuable information on how to select effective evidence-based practices and strategies. It is therefore essential to build teachers' knowledge base to enable them to crit-ically evaluate meta-analyses and use the findings to inform their instructional practices. Increasing teachers' utilization and understanding of metaanalytic results may in turn result in positive outcomes for persons with disabilities in the areas of education, employment, and beyond.

Effects of Inquiry-Based Instruction on Science Achievement for Students with Disabilities: An Analysis of the Literature

“…A third limitation of this review is the variance within the independent variables and a lack in standard application of inquiry-based instruction. Finally, the use of PND as a measure of effect size for single case research has been criticized for exaggerating results (Banda & Therrien, 2008).…”

A Meta-Analysis of Single Case Research Studies on Aided Augmentative and Alternative Communication Systems with Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders

“…In addition, meta-analysis addresses many of the previously stated concerns (Kavale, 1984(Kavale, , 2001) while providing a quantitative means for synthesizing research (Glass, 1976;Kavale, 2001) making it an effective metric for identifying EBP in special education (Banda & Therrien, 2008). Meta-analysis commonly converts data from each of the studies into an effect size (ES) which indicates the amount of change between baseline and intervention phases (Kavale, 1998).…”

“…While numerous researchers promote the use of meta-analysis in summarizing singlecase research (Banda & Therrien, 2008;Kavale, 1984Kavale, , 1998Kavale, , 2001Parker, Hagan-Burke, & Vannest, 2007;Scruggs, 1992;Scruggs & Mastropieri, 1998;Scruggs, Mastropieri, & Casto, 1987) controversy exists regarding the type of metric to use (Scruggs, 1992;Scruggs & Mastropieri, 2001). Several single-participant research indices such as percent of nonoverlapping data points (PND; Scruggs et al, 1987), percentage of all non-overlapping data (PAND;Parker et al, 2007) and the improvement rate difference (IRD, Parker, Vannest, & Brown, 2009) have been proposed.…”

Using Argument-based Science Inquiry to Improve Science Achievement for Students with Disabilities in Inclusive Classrooms

“…Coe (2002) suggests that instead of statistical significance, the use of effect sizes may answer the more practical question of the effectiveness of an intervention. Previous research has supported the use of effect size calculations for educational purposes and decision making (Banda & Therrien, 2008;Bernhardt, 2004). As suggested by Scruggs, Mastropieri, and Boon (1998), to improve science learning and understanding for students with disabilities a more structured approach to inquiry is needed.…”