biostudies-literatureRoos MSwiss National Science Foundation1555-1574https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC9292837biostudies-literatureUnknown63(8)In recent years, Bayesian meta-analysis expressed by a normal-normal hierarchical model (NNHM) has been widely used for combining evidence from multiple studies. Data provided for the NNHM are frequently based on a small number of studies and on uncertain within-study standard deviation values. Despite the widespread use of Bayesian NNHM, it has always been unclear to what extent the posterior inference is impacted by the heterogeneity prior (sensitivity S ) and by the uncertainty in the within-study standard deviation values (identification I ). Thus, to answer this question, we developed a unified method to simultaneously quantify both sensitivity and identification ( S - I ) for all model parameters in a Bayesian NNHM, based on derivatives of the Bhattacharyya coefficient with respect tBiometrical journal. Biometrische ZeitschriftSensitivity and identification quantification by a relative latent model complexity perturbation in Bayesian meta-analysis.PMC9292837175933Rue HRoos MHunanyan SBakka HfalseSensitivity and identification quantification by a relative latent model complexity perturbation in Bayesian meta-analysis.In recent years, Bayesian meta-analysis expressed by a normal-normal hierarchical model (NNHM) has been widely used for combining evidence from multiple studies. Data provided for the NNHM are frequently based on a small number of studies and on uncertain within-study standard deviation values. Despite the widespread use of Bayesian NNHM, it has always been unclear to what extent the posterior inference is impacted by the heterogeneity prior (sensitivity S ) and by the uncertainty in the within-study standard deviation values (identification I ). Thus, to answer this question, we developed a unified method to simultaneously quantify both sensitivity and identification ( S - I ) for all model parameters in a Bayesian NNHM, based on derivatives of the Bhattacharyya coefficient with respect t2021-01-01T00:00:00Z2021 Dec2025-04-25T21:51:01.259Z2025-02-19T04:57:15.977ZS-EPMC92928373437822310.1002/bimj.202000193