Call: Capturing primary study quality in meta-analyses
A comparison of existing catalogs and their impact on the results of a meta-analysis in education research
Meta-analyses and systematic reviews have been considered the gold standard in medicine for years and are becoming increasingly popular because of a high level of evidence in education research as well. Meta-analyses and systematic reviews systematically summarize existing primary studies. Assessing the quality of individual primary studies is a significant component of conducting meta-analyses and systematic reviews.
Various disciplines have developed different catalogs of variables that can be used to assess the quality of a primary study (e.g., What Works Clearinghouse Standards for Intervention Studies). So far, however, none of the catalogs has gained consistent acceptance in educational research and it is unclear to what extent the use of different catalogs leads to different assessments of quality.
The aim of the thesis is to compare existing catalogs for assessing the study quality of primary studies at the variable level and to apply them exemplarily to an existing meta-analysis. Among others, the final thesis will answer the following questions: In which categories/variables do the catalogs differ? Are there variables that are picked up in each catalog? How different is the assessment of study quality when using different catalogs?
This thesis will enable you to address key features of the quality of primary studies in the field of educational research. In doing so, you will make a direct contribution to better research in general and to the research of the Chair of School and Instructional Research at the TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology in particular.
Interested?
Then we look forward to receiving your message by mail to:
lisa.ziernwald@tum.de and janina.taeschner@tum.de