2409MS06

Meta-Analysis

Abstract and Learning Objectives

Meta-analyses have become very popular in many fields of the social sciences incl. business and management research. The results of meta-analyses attract substantial interest by both scholars and practitioners, as indicated by high citation numbers and widespread dissemination of meta-analytic findings in the media.

By summarizing results drawn from a set of studies concerning a specific topic and by discovering consistencies and explaining inconsistencies in these results, meta-analysis is an essential step in the process of knowledge accumulation, theory building and theory testing in science, linking past research with future scientific endeavors.

The course targets researchers who are interested in understanding, conducting, and publishing meta-analytic research. Participants of this course will learn how to conduct and publish a high-quality meta-analysis in the area of management and business research. To this aim, the course follows a step-by-step procedure that covers the entire meta-analysis research process, including problem formulation and definition of a research question for a meta-analysis, literature search, study and effects coding, data preparation and analysis with different software tools, and reporting and publishing. Participants will further learn how to evaluate meta-analyses in the business and management literature and to follow the respective methodological discussion about meta-analyses in their field.