Methodology: Meta Analysis

Question 1

Question: a researcher is investigating how effective anti-psychotic medication is at treating sz. They decide to conduct a meta analysis that examine the use of first and second generation anti-psychotics. Explain how a meta-analysis could be conducted in this investigation of drug therapy for the treatment of schizophrenia.

Answer 1

• define meta analysis= combining the results from multiple studies to produce an overall measure of effectiveness
• define research question- produce hypothesis- SGA’s more effective than FGA’s
• systematic review/finding literature- collect and identify studies that examine SGA’s e.g. chlorpromazine, and FGA’s e.g. clozapine that are relevant to treating schizophrenia
• best evidence synthesis- comb through the studies and only extract data on the effectiveness of drug therapy from those who have the best methodology
• data extraction- summary of the data taken from each study on the effectiveness- such as % of patients that it treated successfully, the effect size, their symptom reduction on both positive and negative symptoms
• statistical analysis- conduct statistical tests to produce comparable estimates to make effect sizes
• final estimates of effectiveness- draw conclusions and state the trends found- e.g. if clozapine was better at treating negative symptoms than chlorpromazine .

Question 2

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