Jacqueline Davis

Viewing systematic reviews and meta-analysis in social research through different lenses.

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are used to combine results across studies to determine an overall effect. Meta-analysis is especially useful for combining evidence to inform social policy, but meta-analyses of applied social science research may encounter practical issues arising from the nature of the research domain. The current paper identifies potential resolutions to four issues that may be encountered in systematic reviews and meta-analyses in social research. The four issues are: scoping and targeting research questions appropriate for meta-analysis; selecting eligibility criteria where primary studies vary in research design and choice of outcome measures; dealing with inconsistent reporting in primary studies; and identifying sources of heterogeneity with multiple confounded moderators. The paper presents an overview of each issue with a review of potential resolutions, identified from similar issues encountered in meta-analysis in medical and biological sciences. The discussion aims to share and improve methodology in systematic reviews and meta-analysis by promoting cross-disciplinary communication, that is, to encourage ‘viewing through different lenses’.

Legitimacy and policing

Successful policing relies on the ability of police to secure compliance and cooperation from the public (Tyler, 1990). We all know that police can, if they choose, use arrest, threat of arrest and graduated forms of force to obtain compliance. However, given the obvious negative side effects of arrest and use of force, coupled with their limited resources, police know that they must employ strategies that do not rely solely on their unique and legislated powers to maintain order in society (Mastrofski, Snipes, & Supina, 1996; Tyler, 1990). Indeed, critiques about the negative consequences of the use of force (e.g. risk of harm to police and citizens) and concerns about the concomitant result of poor police-citizen relations point to the growing awareness amongst police, police scholars and policy makers of the importance of procedurally just approaches as the primary means of enhancing perceptions of police legitimacy and thereby generating public compliance and cooperation (McCluskey, 2003; Sunshine & Tyler, 2003; Tyler, 1990).