A Framework for the Meta-Analysis of Survey Data

Abstract

The research outlined in this thesis covers various different statistical issues relating to meta-analysis of survey data. These issues include the creation of an original comprehensive methodological framework for combining survey data, a comparison of this framework with the traditional one proposed by Cochran for the combination of experiments, a proposal for a new weighting method that takes into account the differences in variability due to the sampling plan, an examination of the convergence of meta-analytic estimators, and a discussion on the numerous implicit assumptions researchers make when they are using meta-analysis methods with survey data along with guidelines for completing and reporting reviews when the data come from surveys.