Hello Nazia

I'm not sure if you are going to start a meta-analytical research or only start writting the final report or the paper. But I hope my answer works in both cases.

A Meta-Analysis must start by defining their objectives, eg: What we want to learn?

Then you should follow a systematic review of literature. In order to do so you need to define your search words, and preliminary criteria to reject papers. When doing the review, you should register the total number of results, and the preliminary chosen articles.

Following this, you scan your chosen papers and you can find new criteria to reject them (e.g. bad methodological approximation). Then you refine your list of papers. 

Next, you collect all the data you want from the papers and you analyse it. I reccomend you to read Borenstein et al, 2009 (http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-EHEP002313.html) in order to do so. 

The report should start by explaining the problem and the justification for the research. Then the objectives. 

In materials and methods you should indicate the databases used, the search words, the number of total results, the criteria used to discard a paper, the number of preliminary chosen papers, the "refining criteria" and the final number of paper used. Then you should mention how you manage the data, and if you used a fixed or a random effects meta-analysis and why. The package used also may be mentioned.

And finally you show your results and discuss it.

If you want more info I reccomend you to look for the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) . You will find the link at the bottom, together with others I recommend you to visit.

Good luck

http://www.prisma-statement.org/

https://www.meta-analysis.com/downloads/Meta%20Analysis%20Fixed%20vs%20Random%20effects.pdf

https://www.meta-analysis.com/pages/book_introduction_to_meta-analysis.php

http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-EHEP002313.html

Hello Nazia

I'm not sure if you are going to start a meta-analytical research or only start writting the final report or the paper. But I hope my answer works in both cases.

A Meta-Analysis must start by defining their objectives, eg: What we want to learn?

Then you should follow a systematic review of literature. In order to do so you need to define your search words, and preliminary criteria to reject papers. When doing the review, you should register the total number of results, and the preliminary chosen articles.

Following this, you scan your chosen papers and you can find new criteria to reject them (e.g. bad methodological approximation). Then you refine your list of papers. 

Next, you collect all the data you want from the papers and you analyse it. I reccomend you to read Borenstein et al, 2009 (http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-EHEP002313.html) in order to do so. 

The report should start by explaining the problem and the justification for the research. Then the objectives. 

In materials and methods you should indicate the databases used, the search words, the number of total results, the criteria used to discard a paper, the number of preliminary chosen papers, the "refining criteria" and the final number of paper used. Then you should mention how you manage the data, and if you used a fixed or a random effects meta-analysis and why. The package used also may be mentioned.

And finally you show your results and discuss it.

If you want more info I reccomend you to look for the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) . You will find the link at the bottom, together with others I recommend you to visit.

Good luck

http://www.prisma-statement.org/

https://www.meta-analysis.com/downloads/Meta%20Analysis%20Fixed%20vs%20Random%20effects.pdf

https://www.meta-analysis.com/pages/book_introduction_to_meta-analysis.php

http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-EHEP002313.html

Thanks Campos and Cox

These are really helpful