How to Conduct a Good Meta-Analysis in Gifted Education

Abstract

This methodological brief introduces basic procedures and issues for conducting a high-quality meta-analysis in gifted education. Specifically, we discuss issues such as how to select a topic and formulate research problems, search for and identify qualified studies, code studies and extract data, choose and calculate effect sizes, analyze data, conduct heterogeneity and moderator analysis, assess publication bias, as well as interpret and report meta-analysis results. We discuss why meta-analysis is needed in gifted education. We also review the history of meta-analyses in gifted education and discuss topics that are conducive to meta-analysis. Furthermore, we provide an overview of the challenges and recent advancements in meta-analysis methodology. Last, we introduce useful resources for further learning of meta-analysis.