Matthew Saxton
Doctoral Student
School of Education and Information Science
University of California, Los Angeles
E-mail: msaxton@ucla.edu

Reference Service Evaluation and Meta-analysis:
Methodological Issues in Summarizing Data from Multiple Studies

Research Grant Report and Contributed Papers Session
Wednesday, February 12, 1997, 2:00pm - 3:30pm

The present study uses meta-analysis as a means of synthesizing a large volume of data concerning numerous independent variables and their correlations with reference accuracy. The questions guiding this study are how often have the same variables been examined across different studies, to what extent do the observed correlations agree or differ, and can the results of multiple studies be combined to obtain a more accurate estimate of the strength of association for a given variable with reference accuracy? Consistent findings across studies would suggest that reference accuracy has some relationship with the independent variable in question, while inconsistent findings would suggest that no relationship exists. In the area of reference service evaluation, the ability to perform meta-analysis is limited because few studies use the same operational definitions for variables and rarely provide enough descriptive statistics.

Out of seven eligible studies, only twelve comparisons can be made. In ten instances the findings are homogenous and can be combined. Based on the analysis, it appears that five variables (library expenditures, volumes added, fluctuation in the collection, size of the service population, and hours of operation) consistently exhibit a moderate positive association with accuracy. The establishment of standard guidelines for reporting findings and an increase in using repeated measures would greatly facilitate making comparisons across studies.

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