Correcting for outcome reporting bias in a meta-analysis: A meta-regression approach.
Behav Res Methods
; 56(3): 1994-2012, 2024 Mar.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37540470
Outcome reporting bias (ORB) refers to the biasing effect caused by researchers selectively reporting outcomes within a study based on their statistical significance. ORB leads to inflated effect size estimates in meta-analysis if only the outcome with the largest effect size is reported due to ORB. We propose a new method (CORB) to correct for ORB that includes an estimate of the variability of the outcomes' effect size as a moderator in a meta-regression model. An estimate of the variability of the outcomes' effect size can be computed by assuming a correlation among the outcomes. Results of a Monte-Carlo simulation study showed that the effect size in meta-analyses may be severely overestimated without correcting for ORB. Estimates of CORB are close to the true effect size when overestimation caused by ORB is the largest. Applying the method to a meta-analysis on the effect of playing violent video games on aggression showed that the effect size estimate decreased when correcting for ORB. We recommend to routinely apply methods to correct for ORB in any meta-analysis. We provide annotated R code and functions to help researchers apply the CORB method.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Sesgo
Tipo de estudio:
Systematic_reviews
Límite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Behav Res Methods
Asunto de la revista:
CIENCIAS DO COMPORTAMENTO
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Países Bajos
Pais de publicación:
Estados Unidos