The reliability of meta-analytic review

Meta-analylic strategies are rapidly becoming the method of choice for researchers engaged in the review on topics spanning the scope of psychology. Although the assertion has been made that meta-analysis is an empirically reliable method of research synthesis, this claim has not been validated. To validate this claim, mete-analyses from three different topic areas, in each of which 3 or 4 reviewers carried our an independent meta-analysis is presented. Intraclass reliability coefficients and agreement rates were calculated and are used to support the assertion that meta-analysis is a reliable method for integration of research where the literature to be reviewed can be quantified and is amenable to meta-analytic techniques and analysis.