Exercise: The analgesic effect of acupuncture, answer 3

Question 3: How could the results of these trials be combined in a meta-analysis?

Suggested answer:

These are quantitative scales where the scales are in different units. Some are on the range 0 to 10, some are on the range 0 to 100, and one is on the range 1 to 10. Hence they are in different units. To combine them, we must put them into a common unit. The one we use is the standard deviation unit. We standardise them and find a standardised mean difference.


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