Characteristics of Meta-Analyses Reported in Mental Retardation, Learning Disabilities, and Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Abstract

Face validity of meta-analyses is important given the summative nature of the technique and special education’s increasing reliance on their apparently definitive results. Meta-analysis appears to be helpful in clarifying special education research because, unlike more traditional narrative and vote-count research syntheses, it can simultaneously investigate and discriminate the magnitude of treatment main effects and higher order interactions. This chapter aims to provide an integrative review of the characteristics of reported meta-analyses in mental retardation, learning disabilities, and emotional behavioral disorders by applying a set of criteria for published meta-analyses to gauge the extent of reported meta-analytic information within and across analyses. It establishes how consistently this information was provided; and noting what inconsistencies, with potential for affecting the face validity of the meta-analyses, appeared in the reported data. In meta-analysis, data collection encompasses a wide range of primary study characteristics that become the independent variables of the meta-analysis.