AUTHOR=Moeyaert Mariola , Dehghan-Chaleshtori Marzieh , Xu Xinyun , Yang Panpan TITLE=Single-case design meta-analyses in education and psychology: a systematic review of methodology JOURNAL=Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics VOLUME=8 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/research-metrics-and-analytics/articles/10.3389/frma.2023.1190362 DOI=10.3389/frma.2023.1190362 ISSN=2504-0537 ABSTRACT=

Meta-analysis is of increasing importance as this quantitative synthesis technique has the potential to summarize a tremendous amount of research evidence, which can help making evidence-based decisions in policy, practice, and theory. This paper examines the single-case meta-analyses within the Education and Psychology fields. The amount of methodological studies related to the meta-analysis of Single-Case Experimental Designs (SCEDs) is increasing rapidly, especially in these fields. This underscores the necessity of a succinct summary to help methodologists identify areas for further development in Education and Psychology research. It also aids applied researchers and research synthesists in discerning when to use meta-analytic techniques for SCED studies based on criteria such as bias, mean squared error, 95% confidence intervals, Type I error rates, and statistical power. Based on the summary of empirical evidence from 18 reports identified through a systematic search procedure, information related to meta-analytic techniques, data generation and analysis models, design conditions, statistical properties, conditions under which the meta-analytic technique is appropriate, and the study purpose(s) were extracted. The results indicate that three-level hierarchical linear modeling is the most empirically validated SCED meta-analytic technique, and parameter bias is the most prominent statistical property investigated. A large number of primary studies (more than 30) and at least 20 measurement occasions per participant are recommended for usage of SCED meta-analysis in Education and Psychology fields.