Cumulative Meta-Analysis: A Consideration of Indicators of Sufficiency and Stability

Abstract

This article considers the application of cumulative meta-analysis, defined as the procedure of performing a (new) meta-analysis at every point during the history of a research domain. Two distinct facets of cumulative knowledge are identified: sufficiency (“Are additional studies needed to establish the existence of the phenomenon?”) and stability (“Will additional studies change the aggregate picture of the phenomenon?”). These two facets of cumulative knowledge define the purpose of the present effort: How can we determine whether a cumulative meta-analytic database has achieved sufficiency and stability? The authors delineate indicators of sufficiency and stability that might be derived from cumulative meta-analyses and explore the use of these indicators in a set of previously published meta-analytic databases. Discussion explores both retrospective and prospective implications of this approach to cumulative knowledge and compares the implications of this approach to cumulative knowledge with alternative views of social psychology as history.