Journal
AMERICAN STATISTICIAN
Volume 70, Issue 4, Pages 385-394Publisher
AMER STATISTICAL ASSOC
DOI: 10.1080/00031305.2016.1165735
Keywords
Bias adjustment; Egger regression; Funnel plot; Meta-analysis
Categories
Funding
- MRC methodology research fellowship [MR/N501906/1]
- MRC [MC_UP_1302/2, MC_UU_12013/9, MC_UU_12013/1, MC_UU_00002/3, MC_U105260556] Funding Source: UKRI
- Medical Research Council [MC_UU_00002/3, MC_U105260556, MC_UP_1302/2, MC_UU_12013/9, MC_UU_12013/1, MR/N501906/1] Funding Source: researchfish
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The funnel plot is a graphical visualization of summary data estimates from a meta-analysis, and is a useful tool for detecting departures from the standard modeling assumptions. Although perhaps not widely,appreciated, a simple extension of the funnel plot can help to facilitate an intuitive interpretation of the mathematics underlying a meta-analysis at a more fundamental level, by equating it to determining the center of mass of a physical system. We used this analogy to explain the concepts of weighing evidence and of biased evidence to a young audience at the Cambridge Science Festival, without recourse to precise definitions or statistical formulas and with a little help from Sherlock Holmes! Following on from the science fair, we have developed an interactive web-application (named the Meta-Analyser) to bring these ideas to a wider audience. We envisage that our application will be a useful tool for researchers when interpreting their data. First, to facilitate a simple understanding of fixed and random effects modeling approaches; second, to assess the importance of outliers; and third, to show the impact of adjusting for small study bias. This final aim is realized by introducing a novel graphical interpretation of the well-known method of Egger regression.
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