National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities

NICHCY Connections...
to Research 102: Adding Up the Evidence

Table of Contents
  • Research Reviews
    		•
  • Meta-Analyses
    		•
  • What is Effect Size?
    		•
  • Applications to Education
    		•
  • What's Next from NICHCY?
    		•

    Launched April 9, 2004
    Updated December 3, 2007
    Approx. 5 pages when printed

    Author
    Dr. Barbara Smith
    Research Analyst, NICHCY

    So you want to use research findings when you make decisions affecting children with disabilities---what's the best practice for educating them, for determining their placement, for training their teachers, for designing the systems that will help them flourish and succeed. So you start searching for research that's relevant to the decisions you have to make. You run across terms like single study, group design, experimental design, literature review, synthesis, and---ahhh! here's a high-falutin' one---meta-analysis. What's the difference between these terms, and how much weight can you put on the conclusions the research authors draw?

    This Research 102 page takes a look at some basic research processes for adding up the evidence from individual studies and drawing bigger conclusions---about patterns and trends in what works and what doesn't. You can use this page in combination with the other offerings in our ever-growing collection of pages designed to make sense of research. At the moment, we offer these basic introductions:

    horizontal dotted line for display purposes

    Research Reviews

    arrow pointing up Back to top

    Meta-Analyses: The Next Step Up
    A meta-analysis goes further than a systematic review. It's a quantitative method that not only culls the results of many studies but also presents an estimate of the effect size. If you want to know more, these resources will help answer the question,"What is a meta-analysis?"

    arrow pointing up Back to top

    What is Effect Size?

    arrow pointing up Back to top

    Applications to Education
    Okay, so how do you take research findings and apply them to educational questions or concerns?

    arrow pointing up Back to top

    What's Next from NICHCY? arrow pointing up Back to top
    This information is copyright free.
    Readers are encouraged to copy and share it, but please credit the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY).
    NICHCY Connections pages are published in response to questions from individuals and organizations that contact us. We encourage you to share your ideas and feedback with us!

    Project Director: Suzanne Ripley
    Editor: Lisa Küpper, Director of Publications, NICHCY
    Author: Dr. Barbara Smith
    Updates: Kyrie Dragoo

    NICHCY thanks our Project Officer, Dr. Judy Shanley, at the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), U.S. Department of Education.

    Publication of this Web resource page is made possible through Cooperative Agreement #H326N030003 between the Academy for Educational Development and the Office of Special Education Programs of the U.S. Department of Education. The contents of this document do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of Education, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
    NICHCY Instant Feedback
    Please take a second to let us know how we're doing:
    (If you are looking for answers to a specific questions feel free to email us: nichcy@aed.org)

    I am a (check all that apply):
      K-12 General EducationTeacher
      K-12 Special EducationTeacher
      School Librarian
      K-12 Student
      Parent/Family
      School Administrator - Job Title:  
      Related Service Provider - Job Title:  
      Para-professional/Specialist - Job Title:  
      Early Childhood Professional - Job Title:  
      Undergraduate/Graduate Student
      College/University Professor - Department:  
      Researcher
      TA Provider
      Policy Maker
     Other - Please specify:  

      Extremely
    Useful     		Very
    Useful     		Useful Somewhat
    Useful    		 Not Very
    Useful
    The material presented here is

    Additional Feedback:

     

    Back to previous page

    NICHCY
    P.O. Box 1492
    Washington, DC 20013
    (800) 695-0285 - v/tty
    (202) 884-8441 - fax
    nichcy@aed.org