Meta-analysis of Incorrectly Analyzed Studies

The purpose of this project was to develop a correction strategy for significance tests of incorrectly analyzed studies (i.e., single-level regression was conducted instead of multilevel modeling). The correction strategy currently used by the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) frequently leads to very low statistical power, leading to the potentially inaccurate conclusion that from a statistical significance standpoint, the tested interventions are ineffective. The researcher developed robust methods to quantify the uncertainty in the effect size that would have been estimated by the original authors if they had analyzed the study correctly. These new methods could then be employed by the WWC to give a more accurate assessment of the impact of interventions for which reported results were of the wrong analysis.