Advancing Meta-Analysis With Knowledge-Management Platforms: Using metaBUS in Psychology

Abstract

In this article, we provide a review of research-curation and knowledge-management efforts that may be leveraged to advance research and education in psychological science. After reviewing the approaches and content of other efforts, we focus on the metaBUS project’s platform, the most comprehensive effort to date. The metaBUS platform uses standards-based protocols in combination with human judgment to organize and make readily accessible a database of research findings, currently numbering more than 1 million. It allows users to conduct rudimentary, instant meta-analyses, and capacities for visualization and communication of meta-analytic findings have recently been added. We conclude by discussing challenges, opportunities, and recommendations for expanding the project beyond applied psychology.

Community-Augmented Meta-Analyses (CAMAs) in Psychology

“…A project located in the domain of management and applied psychology is metaBUS. It is based on a hierarchical taxonomy of the field and provides a database consisting of correlations between clearly defined concepts within this taxonomy (Bosco et al, 2020). MetaBUS is a cloud-based platform and search engine providing access to more than 1.1 million curated findings from over 14,000 articles published in applied psychology journals since 1980 (https:// www.metaBUS.org).…”

Improving Transparency, Falsifiability, and Rigor by Making Hypothesis Tests Machine-Readable

“…In the online vignettes (https://scienceverse.github.io/scienceverse/), we demonstrate how z-curve and p-curve analyses can easily be performed on the basis of the p values stored in the results section of the metastudy file, and how the raw data in metastudy files can be used to identify variables shared across data sets and to compute and analyze effect sizes in a meta-analysis. As meta-analyses will almost always include data from published articles that have no metadata available, unless a concerted effort is made to catalogue all published studies (for a noteworthy example, see Bosco et al, 2020), these benefits will at best apply to a subset of the studies included in a meta-analysis.…”

Crowdsourced meta-analysis in psychological science: An open science approach to compiling and synthesizing scientific knowledge

“…MetaBUS is a pioneering prototype from the discipline of Management research that shares many of the same goals as the proposed model of knowledge storage and synthesis. However, while promising, its scope and power are limited given its current mode of operation, as reflected in the stated aims of providing a "first pass, rudimentary meta-analysis" (page 11, Bosco, Field, Larsen, Chang, & Uggerslev, 2020). Two major differences need to be highlighted.…”