The Potential Effects of Meta-Analysis On Special Education Practice

A recent development is the use of meta-analysis to integrate research in the special education literature. The usefulness of research integration, in general, is limited by the field's weak empirical orientation and by the skewed distribution of published findings. Nonetheless, the authors regard meta-analysis as an improvement over traditional methods of research integration. Advantages are increased objectivity, freedom from arbitrary levels of statistical significance, and potential to relate an array of independent variables to effect size. Disadvantages include questionable reliability of ratings, nonequivalence of effect sizes, and limited range of effect sizes. The authors believe that most of the problems can be rectified and advocate the cautious application of meta-analysis. However, they question the impact it can have on a largely nonempirically oriented field.

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