About this module
Part of the Cochrane Interactive Learning course on Conducting an Intervention Review, this module covers analysis of a range of types of quantitative data. This module teaches you about effect measures for dichotomous and continuous data, undertaking a meta-analysis, recognizing and managing heterogeneity. It also covers analysing other types of data and study designs.
120-160 minutes
What you can expect to learn (learning outcomes)
This module will teach you to:
- Recognize characteristics of different effect measures
- Identify ways in which continuous outcomes and their comparisons can be expressed
- Define a meta-analysis
- Decide when it is appropriate to conduct a meta-analysis
- Identify and understand the data presented in forest plots
- Identify heterogeneity between included studies
- Consider heterogeneity appropriately when making decisions about analysis
- Interpret the results of subgroup analysis
- Consider the analysis of other (non-standard) data in included studies
- Recognize non-standard study designs
Authors, contributors, and how to cite this module
Module 6 has been written and compiled by Dario Sambunjak, Miranda Cumpston and Chris Watts from Cochrane Central Executive Team., with the expert input from the Cochrane Statistical Methods Group.
A full list of acknowledgements, including our expert advisors from across Cochrane, is available at the end of each module page.
This module should be cited as: Sambunjak D, Cumpston M, Watts C. Module 6: Analysing the data. In: Cochrane Interactive Learning: Conducting an intervention review. Cochrane, 2017. Available from https://training.cochrane.org/interactivelearning/module-6-analysing-data.
Update and feedback
The module was last updated on September 2022.
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