Best evidence synthesis: An intelligent alternative to meta-analysis

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Abstract

Research review has long been one of the most important scholarly activities in all branches of science. While there is sometimes a single study so well-designed, well carried out, and difficult to replicate that its findings are accepted as conclusive, more often there are many studies on a given topic, no one of which clearly supersedes the others. These studies may be done by different investigators using different methods or different populations. They may arrive at different conclusions. When this is the case, there is a need for reviewers to carefully consider the evidence and to put forth conclusions or hypotheses about where the weight of the evidence lies.

Keywords

Meta-analysis
Research review
Best evidence synthesis

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Portions of this paper are adapted from Slavin [24]. This paper was written under a grant from the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education (No. OERI-R-117-R90002). However, any opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent OERI positions or policies.