We took an unconventional approach and created a program that uses Excel as a calculation and programming platform. We specifically aimed at students and researchers who are new to meta-analysis, with important parts of the development oriented towards creating internal interactive tutoring tools and designing features that would facilitate usage of the software as a companion to existing books on meta-analysis. We set out to create and validate an easy-to-use and comprehensive meta-analysis package that would be simple enough programming-wise to remain available as a free download. Unfortunately, it can take a substantial amount of time to get acquainted with some of these programs and most contain little or no interactive educational material. Consequently, the number of software packages that can perform meta-analysis has increased over the years.
So far, meta-analysis has been particularly useful in evaluating and comparing therapies and in assessing causes of disease.
Meta-analysis has become a well-known method for synthesis of quantitative data from previously conducted research in applied health sciences.
