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. 2022:2345:91-102.
doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1566-9_5.

Performing Meta-analyses with Very Few Studies

Anke Schulz  1 , Christoph Schürmann  2 , Guido Skipka  2 , Ralf Bender  2
Affiliations

Performing Meta-analyses with Very Few Studies

Anke Schulz et al. Methods Mol Biol. 2022.

Abstract

This chapter contains a methodological framework for choosing a model for the meta-analysis of very few studies and selecting an estimation method for the chosen model by means of study characteristics and by comparing results yielded by different approaches. When the results are inconclusive between different estimation methods, it might be the best solution to refrain from a quantitative meta-analysis but to summarize the study results by means of a qualitative evidence synthesis.

Keywords: Confidence interval; Evidence synthesis; Fixed-effect model; Meta-analysis; Prediction interval; Random-effects model; Very few studies.

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