index.Rmd

--- 
title: "Doing Meta-Analysis in R and exploring heterogeneity using metaforest"
subtitle: "A Hands-on Guide"
author: "Caspar van Lissa¹"
date: "¹Utrecht University"
site: bookdown::bookdown_site
output: 
  bookdown::gitbook:
    config: 
      toc:
       collapse: section
      search: yes
      fontsettings:
        size: 2
    split_by: section
    includes:
      after_body: banner.html
    df_print: paged
documentclass: book
bibliography: [book.bib, packages.bib]
biblio-style: apalike
link-citations: yes
description: "This guide is based on the book 'Doing Meta-Analysis in R', by Mathias Harrer, Pim Cuijpers, & David Ebert, and was adapted to focus on the metafor package, and exploring heterogeneity using metaforest. The original can be found here: https://bookdown.org/MathiasHarrer/Doing_Meta_Analysis_in_R/"
favicon: "favicon.ico"
---

# About this Guide

![](coverbild.jpg)

```{block,type='rmdinfo'}
This guide is based on the book 'Doing Meta-Analysis in R', by Mathias Harrer, Pim Cuijpers, & David Ebert, and was adapted to focus on the metafor package, and exploring heterogeneity using metaforest. The original can be found here: https://bookdown.org/MathiasHarrer/Doing_Meta_Analysis_in_R/
```

<br></br>

---

**The guide will show you how to:**
 
* Get **R** and **RStudio** set for your Meta-Analysis
* Get your data into R
* **Prepare your data** for the meta-analysis
* Perform **fixed-effect** and **random-effects** meta-analysis using the `meta` and `metafor`packages
* Analyse the **heterogeneity** of your results
* Tackle heterogeneity using **subgroup analyses** and **meta-regression**
* Check if **selective outcome reporting (publication bias)** is a present in your data
* Control for selective outcome reporting and publication bias

---

**What this guide will not cover**

Although this guide will provide some information on the statistics behind meta-analysis, it will not give you an **in-depth introduction** into how meta-analyses are calculated statistically.
  
It is also beyond the scope of this guide to advise in detail which meta-analytical strategy is suited best in which contexts, and on how the search, study inclusion and reporting of meta-analyses should be conducted. The [*Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions*](http://handbook-5-1.cochrane.org/), however, should be a great source to find more information on these topics.

---
  
**Generally, there a two other sources to recommended when conducting Meta-Analyses:**
  
* If you're looking for a easily digestable, hands-on introduction on how Meta-Analyses are conducted, we can recommend **Pim Cuijpers' online courses on Meta-Analysis**. The courses are freely available on YouTube. To have a look, click [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP7_VBrG_TY&list=PL-h5cI5Bkvt0J-O0kq_9J9_aksWFPgR7s).
* If you're interested in more details on how to conduct Meta-Analyses in R, you can either have a look at Wolfgang Viechtbauer's page for the `metafor` package ([Link](http://metafor-project.org)). Or you can consult a book on the `meta` package which was recently published [@schwarzer2015meta].

<br><br>

````{block,type='rmdinfo'}
**How to get the R code for this guide**

![](githublogo.png)

All code behind this book is available online on **GitHub**. It can be found [here](https://github.com/cjvanlissa/Doing-Meta-Analysis-in-R/).
```

<br><br>



```{r eval=FALSE, echo=FALSE}
install.packages("bookdown")
# or the development version
# devtools::install_github("rstudio/bookdown")
```

---

**To get started, proceed to the next chapter!**

---

<br><br>

```{r include=FALSE}
# automatically create a bib database for R packages
knitr::write_bib(c(
  .packages(), 'bookdown', 'knitr', 'rmarkdown'
), 'packages.bib')
```