Meta-analysis using SPSS: a simple guide for clinicians, public health, and allied health specialists
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Systematic review and meta-analysis and other forms of evidence syntheses are critical to inform guideline development and healthcare decision-making. Various software is available now a days to conduct meta-analysis. Some of them are code-based, few are not freely available, and some others have obvious limitations. SPSS is the most commonly used statistical package and has a graphical user interface making it user friendly. A recent version (v29) of SPSS has introduced the functionality for meta-analysis. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive and clear guide to public health, clinicians, and allied health professionals to perform and report a meta-analysis using SPSS. We have first briefly explained few key statistical concepts relevant to meta-analysis. Then, we have provided three solved examples for meta-analysis using attached example datasets. We have also provided the interpretation and reporting for these three cases. Next, we have discussed about ancillary cases, and how meta-analysts can deal with other scenarios. Finally, we have provided the developers of SPSS with some suggestions for improvements and enhancement for incorporation in the future versions of this software.
Source: The Evidence
Language: English
Subfield: Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4414748523