Accumulation Bias in meta-analysis: the need to consider time in error control.

ABSTRACT: Studies accumulate over time and meta-analyses are mainly retrospective. These two characteristics introduce dependencies between the analysis time, at which a series of studies is up for meta-analysis, and results within the series. Dependencies introduce bias - Accumulation Bias - and invalidate the sampling distribution assumed for p-value tests, thus inflating type-I errors. But dependencies are also inevitable, since for science to accumulate efficiently, new research needs to be informed by past results. Here, we investigate various ways in which time influences error control in meta-analysis testing. We introduce an Accumulation Bias Framework that allows us to model a wide variety of practically occurring dependencies including study series

SUBMITTER: Ter Schure J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6808047 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature