Table 2

Overview of the data sets used in the validation

#
Author(s)
Date
Studies
Input type

1
Lau et al. [4]
1992
33
DD – large
2
Hodnett et al. [29]
2001
5
DD – small
3
Teo et al. [30]
1991
16
DD – publication bias
4
Crowley [31]
2000
17
DD – rare events
5
Lightowler et al. [32]
2003
5
DC – small
6
Wahlbeck et al. [33]
2000
11
DC – medium large
7
Pagliaro et al. [34]
1992
19
C – odds ratio
8
Law et al. [35]
1994
10
C – risk difference

The validation was done with eight data sets from meta-analysis that have been published in major peer-reviewed journals. The data sets were selected to represent a wide spectrum of potential input for meta-analysis. Abbreviations: "DD" = descriptive data for dichotomous outcomes (two-by-two table data), "DC" = descriptive data for continuous outcomes (means with their standard deviations and sample sizes), and "C" = comparative data (association measures with standards error or confidence intervals).

Bax et al. BMC Medical Research Methodology 2006 6:50   doi:10.1186/1471-2288-6-50