Bias and efficiency of meta-analytic variance estimators in the random-effects model

The meta-analytic random effects model assumes that the variability in effect size estimates drawn from a set of studies call be decomposed into two parts: heterogeneity due to random population effects and sampling variance. In this context, the usual goal is to estimate the central tendency and the amount of heterogeneity in the population effect sizes. The amount of heterogeneity, in a set of effect sizes has implications regarding the interpretation of the meta-analytic findings and often serves as an indicator for the presence of potential moderator variables. Five population heterogeneity estimators were compared in this article analytically and via Monte Carlo simulations with respect to their bias and efficiency.