Meta-analysis of univariate P-values

We propose a new meta-analysis method to pool univariate p-values across independent studies and we compare our method with that of Fisher, Stouffer, and George through simulations and identify sub-spaces where each of these methods are optimal and propose a strategy to choose the best meta-analysis method under different sub-spaces. We compare these meta-analysis approaches using p-values from periodicity tests of 4,940 S. Pombe genes from 10 independent time-course experiments and show that our new approach ranks the periodic, conserved, and cycling genes much higher, and detects at least as many genes among the top 1,000 genes, compared to other methods.     

A meta-analytic review and future research agenda of charismatic leadership

Charismatic leadership is a critical construct that draws much attention from both academic and practitioner literatures. Despite the positive attention received by the charisma construct, some have criticized its conceptualization and measurement. These critiques have, in turn, cast doubt on what we know regarding the antecedents and outcomes of charismatic leadership. In this review, we adopt a recently developed definition of charismatic leadership and then conduct a meta-analysis of its antecedents and objective outcomes. Following an examination of 76 independent studies and 36,031 individuals, results indicate that the Big Five traits and cognitive ability vary in their association with charismatic leadership. Other findings show that dimensions of charismatic leadership predict outcomes of interest, such as supervisor-rated task performance, supervisor-rated citizenship behaviors, and group or organization performance. Several shortcomings are identified, however, in testing theoretical and methodological moderating variables. The present research ultimately provides a roadmap for new frontiers in theoretical, measurement and empirical work on charismatic leadership.     

Crisis communication research in Israel: A meta-analysis

This study presents a meta-analysis of crisis research in Israel. It highlights achievements and lacunas, as well as significant gaps in theory, methodology and practice. Moreover, the study reveals trends in applications to specific areas and topics. The paper statistically examines crisis research via crisis type, discipline, and research focus. The results finally showcase a viable need to apply crisis communication theory to research regarding crises in Israel.     

An improved meta-analysis for analyzing cylindrical-type time series data with applications to forecasting problem in environmental study

In this paper, we propose an improved generalized least square (GLS) meta-analysis in a linear-circular regression, and show its utility in the analysis of a certain environmental issue. The existing GLS meta-analysis proposed in Becker and Wu has a serious flaw since information about the covariance among coefficients across studies is not utilized. In our proposed meta-analysis, we take the correlations between adjacent studies into account, and improve the existing GLS meta-analysis. We provide numerical examples to compare the proposed method with several other existing methods by using Akaike's Information Criterion, Bayesian Information Criterion and mean square prediction errors with applications to forecasting problem in Environmental study.     

Meta-analysis of Proportions of Rare Events–A Comparison of Exact Likelihood Methods with Robust Variance Estimation

The conventional random effects model for meta-analysis of proportions approximates within-study variation using a normal distribution. Due to potential approximation bias, particularly for the estimation of rare events such as some adverse drug reactions, the conventional method is considered inferior to the exact methods based on binomial distributions. In this article, we compare two existing exact approaches—beta binomial (B-B) and normal-binomial (N-B)—through an extensive simulation study with focus on the case of rare events that are commonly encountered in medical research. In addition, we implement the empirical (“sandwich”) estimator of variance into the two models to improve the robustness of the statistical inferences. To our knowledge, it is the first such application of sandwich estimator of variance to meta-analysis of proportions. The simulation study shows that the B-B approach tends to have substantially smaller bias and mean squared error than N-B for rare events with occurrences under 5%, while N-B outperforms B-B for relatively common events. Use of the sandwich estimator of variance improves the precision of estimation for both models. We illustrate the two approaches by applying them to two published meta-analysis from the fields of orthopedic surgery and prevention of adverse drug reactions.     

A systematic review of psychosocial interventions for suicidal adolescents

Suicide is a leading cause of death for young people and rates of serious suicidal thoughts are even higher. Due to these high rates and potential harm to youth, effective interventions are necessary. The purpose of this systematic review was to determine the impact of interventions designed for suicidal adolescents. Both quasi-experimental and experimental designs in the published and unpublished literature were included, and a total of 17 studies were located. According to meta-analysis, intervention group participants were slightly less likely to have suicidal and self-harm events than control group participants. However, when studies assessed outcome at a later period than immediately after intervention, experimental group participants were slightly more likely to have suicidal and self-harm events than control group participants. For studies that measured suicidal ideation at posttest, intervention group participants were slightly less likely to report suicidal ideation than control group participants, both at posttest and at follow-up. These contradictory findings are explored and discussed.     

“鲍曼悖论”及其理论解释——来自我国上市公司的经验证据

本文基于2000-2009年我国十个行业225家上市公司的资产回报率数据,分别采用方差法和序数法度量战略风险,并通过风险/收益计算窗口的提前或滞后安排对鲍曼悖论的存在性及其可能解释进行实证检验。研究发现,由于数据严重左偏,用方差法度量战略风险会导致虚假的实证结果,而基于序数法的元分析结果揭示我国上市公司战略风险和滞后收益间存在显著的负相关关系,支持风险隐性成本说关于战略风险-收益关系的因果论证。     

What works?: selectivity models and meta-analysis

What works seeks to identify rehabilitative treatments which are successful in reducing the likelihood that offenders will reoffend. A large number of small case–control studies have been reported in the literature, but with conflicting results. Meta-analysis has been used to reconcile these findings, but again with conflicting results. We reanalyse one of the published meta-analyses in the corrections literature and argue the importance of specifically modelling heterogeneity and selection bias. A sensitivity approach is advocated, suggesting lower average effects and substantially increased measures of uncertainty. The method is tested on a medical example where independent confirmation from a large controlled trial is also available.     

Editorial note: referees

Abstract

This study investigates three methods to handle dependency among effect size estimates in meta-analysis arising from studies reporting multiple outcome measures taken on the same sample. The three-level approach is compared with the method of robust variance estimation, and with averaging effects within studies. A simulation study is performed, and the fixed and random effect estimates of the three methods are compared with each other. Both the robust variance estimation and three-level approach result in unbiased estimates of the fixed effects, corresponding standard errors and variances. Averaging effect sizes results in overestimated standard errors when the effect sizes within studies are truly independent. Although the robust variance and three-level approach are more complicated to use, they have the advantage that they do not require an estimate of the correlation between outcomes, and they still result in unbiased parameter estimates.     

基于“Meta分析”视角的企业社会绩效与企业财务绩效之间的关系研究

随着企业社会责任理论体系逐步的发展与完善,国内外学者开始关注企业社会绩效(CSP)与企业财务绩效(CFP)之间的关系,但是其中大量有关的研究结果却是互相矛盾的。本研究首先提出了一个理论模型以及相关研究假设,以国内外有关的实证研究文献作为研究对象,采用Meta分析方法对各项独立研究结果进行综合统计分析。其研究结果表明:企业社会绩效常常与企业财务绩效是直接地相互作用和相互影响的;企业管理能力和企业声誉作为中介变量对CSP与CFP关系有着正向的影响,其中企业声誉有着高度的影响;大多数CSP测量方法与CFP测量方法之间有着显著的正向关系,其中CSP声誉排名测量方法与CFP测量方法之间显示出相当高的正向关系,而以市场基础和会计基础CFP测量方法与CSP测量方法之间的关系要低于感知(调查)CFP测量方法的。最后,将其研究结果与相关文献的研究结果进行了比较,并提出了研究结论和相关启示。