The Meta-Analysis Center (MAC@PRI)

Our mission at the Meta-Analysis Center at the Peabody Research Institute (MAC@PRI) is to conduct research syntheses and meta-analyses on research relevant to improving the well-being of children, youth, and families. Faculty and research staff at our center conduct systematic reviews and meta-analyses of intervention research and predictive research on risk and protective factors, with expertise in advanced methodological techniques, as well as contributing to the development, testing, and application of meta-analysis methods.

Our faculty and staff have extensive expertise in all aspects of systematic reviewing and meta-analysis methods in the educational, social, and behavioral sciences, with particular emphasis in the following areas:

• Building FileMaker Pro© databases to manage all review stages (tracking, screening, coding)
• Developing and refining eligibility criteria
• Conducting systematic literature searches
• Conducting critical appraisals of studies and developing coding protocols
• Coding targeted data from studies with high reliability
• Translation of meta-analysis results into practice guidelines
• Conducting quantitative meta-analysis, with particular emphasis on:
  • Moderator analysis exploring sources of variability in effects
  • Comparative effectiveness meta-analysis
  • Individual participant data meta-analysis
  • Meta-analytic structural equation modeling
  • Network meta-analysis
  • Robust variance estimation for handling dependent effect sizes