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Fixed-Effect Model

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5 views2 pages

Fixed-Effect Model

Uploaded by

Mund
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Running Head: FIXED-EFFECT MODEL 1

Chapter 11: Fixed-Effect Model

As many researchers engage in meta-analysis in our day today, they are guided by two

available statistical models for meta-analysis – the fixed-effect and random-effect models. Both

models are used to mathematically combine the results from multiple studies; however, they

make different assumptions about the nature of the studies. At the same time, their respective

assumptions lead to diverse descriptions for the true or combined effect and different methods

for assigning weights. Hence, researchers should be knowledgeable of each model. This paper

elucidates on the key assumptions of the fixed-effect model.

Borenstein, Hedges, Higgins, and Rothstein (2009) contends that when using the fixed-

effect model in the meta-analysis, an assumption that all included studies share a common effect

size is made. Moreover, all studies are making an approximation of the same effect size in this

model, hence, assigning weights to the studies is based solely on the amount of information

captured by every study, which, most of the time, is dependent on its sample size. Lastly, the

mere source of error in estimating the common true effect considered in this model is the

arbitrary error within studies, where for studies with large sample sizes, the error will have a

propensity towards zero. Simply put, this model makes the researcher assume that there is one

true effect size that lies beneath all studies in the analysis and that the dissimilarities in observed

effects are due to sampling error.

All said, two statistical models for use in a meta-analysis are available and deciding

which model to use will depend on the researcher's expectations about the common effect size, as

well as on the purpose of the analysis. If researchers deem that all studies in the analysis are

functionally indistinguishable, and they aim to compute effect sizes for the identified population

and not to generalize to other populations, then they are correct in using the fixed-effect model.
FIXED-EFFECT MODEL 2

References

Borenstein, M., Hedges, L., Higgins, J., & Rothstein, H. (2009). Introduction to Meta-Analysis.

Hoboken, United States: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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