8 Meta-analyses

For running meta-analyses, we recommend the metafor package for R (see link 1, link 2).

A comprehensive, hands-on guide on how to use this package is provided in the book by Harrer and colleagues,¹⁹ freely available at this link.

An alternative to the metafor package is to Bayesian multilevel modelling (also discussed in the book by Harrer and colleagues). A more technical discussion of Bayesian multilevel modelling for meta-analyes is provided in this paper by Williams, Rast and Bürkner.²⁰

Note: the slides of a workshop on meta-analyses using metafor package are included in the workshop section of this website 12