Dalene Stangl, Ph.D.
Professor of the Practice of Statistics and Public Policy
Director, Institute of Statistics and Decision Sciences
Duke University
Durham, North Carolina U.S.A.

Conflicting conclusions between large clinical trials and meta-analyses fuel a debate about the usefulness of meta-analysis.  Much of the controversy is overstated, stemming from the disregard of naturally occurring variation between studies.  This course will discuss the controversy, review some basic concepts, and introduce recent methodological developments in meta-analysis.  New developments will include methods for incorporating 1) inconsistency between designs and outcomes across studies, 2) study-level covariates (including measures of study quality), and 3) adjustments for publication bias. Methods will be taught through the presentation of examples from clinical and community trials, epidemiology, and health policy.