#Define meta analysis in psychology how to
#Define meta analysis in psychology pdf

The size of the point estimate is echoing the length of the confidence interval. The bigger it is, the more confident we can be about the result. Often, it’s sized according to how much weight the study has in the meta-analysis. The square is called the point estimate – the study’s “result” if you like. That gives you an estimate of how much uncertainty there is around that result – the shorter it is, the more confident we can be about the result. The length of that horizontal line represents the length of the confidence interval (CI). Each of these horizontal lines with a square in the middle represents the results of a different study. This cartoon is a forest plot, a style of data visualization for meta-analysis results. I’ve written a couple of “5 things” posts about meta-analysis, but not enough explaining data basics. * Meta-analytic methods are still a bit of a mystery to many people, though. Meta-analysis didn’t start to spread until the 1970s. Now there are dozens of publications with meta-analyses every day and it takes less than 5 years for the number published in a year to double. Meta-analysis is a group of statistical techniques that enable data from more than one study to be combined and analyzed as a new dataset. There’s often a few studies looking for answers on the same topic, but there can be dozens or even hundreds of them.

#Define meta analysis in psychology how to

Please do not use unnecessary white space or a heading “graphical abstract” within the image file.Ī basic visual/graphical abstract template is provided below in the 'further reading & resources' section along with advice and further tips on how to create one.There’s a deluge of scientific studies of all sorts – thousands every day. Any text or label must be part of the image file. No additional text, outline or synopsis should be included.

#Define meta analysis in psychology pdf

File type: preferred file types are TIFF, EPS, PDF or MS Office files.Font: please use Times, Arial, Courier or Symbol with a large enough font size as the image will be reduced in size for the table of contents to fit a window 200 pixels high.Please note that your image will be scaled proportionally to fit in the available window on ScienceDirect: a 500 by 200-pixel rectangle.

If you are submitting a larger image, please use the same ratio (500 wide x 200 high).

Image size: please provide an image with a minimum of 1328 x 531 pixels (w x h) using a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.

Try to reduce distracting and cluttering elements as much as possible.

NB: Some titles have specific instructions for graphical abstracts, so please ensure you read the guide for authors of the journal in question before finalizing your work.įor ease of browsing, the graphical abstract should have a clear start and end, preferably 'reading' from top to bottom or left to right. Please note that, just as each paper should be unique, so each graphical abstract should also be unique. Graphical abstracts should be submitted as a separate file in the submission system by selecting “graphical abstracts' from the drop-down list when uploading files. In particular, the average annual use of an article is doubled when compared with those without a visual abstract.Īuthors must provide an original image that clearly represents the work described in the paper. Research has shown that articles which have graphical abstracts are beneficial both in terms of views of the article as well as increased activity on social media. The graphical abstract will be displayed in online search result lists, the online contents list and the article on ScienceDirect, but will typically not appear in the article PDF file or print.Ī graphical abstract should allow readers to quickly gain an understanding of the take-home message of the paper and is intended to encourage browsing, promote interdisciplinary scholarship, and help readers identify more quickly which papers are most relevant to their research interests. It could either be the concluding figure from the article or better still a figure that is specially designed for the purpose, which captures the content of the article for readers at a single glance. This is a single, concise, pictorial and visual summary of the main findings of the article. Journals are increasingly requesting the submission of a “graphical” or “visual abstract” alongside the body of the article.