ABSTRACT
The focus of a quantitative metaanalysis is on using the specific statistical information from a set of studies in an overall statistical analysis to provide quantitative summary results. For this purpose it may be necessary to conduct an informal, qualitative metaanalysis of a larger set of studies first, in order to select that subset of studies deemed suitable for the quantitative metaanalysis. For example, one might only use studies thought to be free of serious and hard-to-quantify biases, and for which certain necessary statistical summaries are available. Because a quantitative metaanalysis concentrates on performing a single statistical analysis of data from all the selected studies at once, the term auperanalyaia might be a more appropriate term. The book by Light and Pillemer (1984) provides many examples and discussions of both qualitative and quantitative aspects of research reviews. This chapter is limited to discussion and explication of a particular class of quantitative metaanalyses: hierarchical Bayesian metaanalyses. Its purpose is to teach someone who is not a specialist in Bayesian statistics how to set up and use the Bayesian methodology in this important application.
