When should meta‐analysis avoid making hidden normality assumptions?

Meta‐analysis is a widely used statistical technique. The simplicity of the calculations required when performing conventional meta‐analyses belies the parametric nature of the assumptions that justify them. In particular, the normal distribution is extensively, and often implicitly, assumed. Here,...

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Veröffentlicht in:Biometrical journal Jg. 60; H. 6; S. 1040 - 1058
Hauptverfasser: Jackson, Dan, White, Ian R.
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Germany Wiley - VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA 01.11.2018
John Wiley and Sons Inc
Schlagworte:
Aversive Therapy
C-Reactive Protein - metabolism
Central limit theorem
Discussion: When should meta‐analysis avoid making hidden normality assumptions?
distributional assumptions
Humans
Meta-analysis
Meta-Analysis as Topic
normal approximation
Normal Distribution
Normality
random effects models
Review
Smoking Cessation
Statistical analysis
Statistical methods
Statistics as Topic - methods
distributional assumptions
random effects models
central limit theorem
normal approximation
ISSN:0323-3847, 1521-4036, 1521-4036
Online-Zugang:Volltext
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Zusammenfassung:Meta‐analysis is a widely used statistical technique. The simplicity of the calculations required when performing conventional meta‐analyses belies the parametric nature of the assumptions that justify them. In particular, the normal distribution is extensively, and often implicitly, assumed. Here, we review how the normal distribution is used in meta‐analysis. We discuss when the normal distribution is likely to be adequate and also when it should be avoided. We discuss alternative and more advanced methods that make less use of the normal distribution. We conclude that statistical methods that make fewer normality assumptions should be considered more often in practice. In general, statisticians and applied analysts should understand the assumptions made by their statistical analyses. They should also be able to defend these assumptions. Our hope is that this article will foster a greater appreciation of the extent to which assumptions involving the normal distribution are made in statistical methods for meta‐analysis. We also hope that this article will stimulate further discussion and methodological work.
Bibliographie:ObjectType-Article-2
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ObjectType-Evidence Based Healthcare-1
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ISSN:0323-3847
1521-4036
1521-4036
DOI:10.1002/bimj.201800071