Neglect of publication bias compromises meta-analyses of educational research
Because negative findings have less chance of getting published, available studies tend to be a biased sample. This leads to a higher prevalence of false positives and the inflation of effect sizes to an unknown degree. To see how meta-analyses in education account for publication bias, we surveyed all meta-analyses published in the last three years in the Review of Educational Research and Educational Research Review. The results show that meta-analyses usually neglect publication bias correction. In the minority of studies adjusting for bias, only the outdated trim and fill method was used, and none of the meta-analyses based their conclusions on corrected estimates, rendering the adjustment inconsequential. It is argued that appropriate state-of-the-art adjustment (e.g., selection models) should be carried out by default, yet one needs to take into account the uncertainty inherent in any meta-analytic inference under bias. We conclude by providing practical recommendations on dealing with publication bias.