meta-analysis

name	meta-analysis
description	Cross-Study Statistical Synthesis Campaign — 5 strategies for systematic collection and methodological planning of multi-study evidence synthesis. Covers pairwise, network, cumulative meta-analysis, heterogeneity investigation, and bias detection. Stops at protocol design (no computation).
execution	campaign
dependencies	{"strategies":["bias-detection","cumulative-tracking","heterogeneity-investigation","network-comparison","pairwise-synthesis"],"sops":["context-checkpoint","context-init"]}

Meta-Analysis Campaign

Cross-study statistical synthesis — systematic collection and methodological planning for multi-study evidence synthesis. This campaign orchestrates the full meta-analysis planning pipeline from PICO formulation through protocol design, stopping before computation.

Strategy Routing

Trigger	Strategy	When
Two-arm comparison	pairwise-synthesis	Comparing method A vs B across studies
Multi-method comparison	network-comparison	Comparing N>=3 methods with indirect evidence
Temporal evidence tracking	cumulative-tracking	Tracking how evidence evolves over time
Inconsistent findings	heterogeneity-investigation	Studies disagree — explain why
Evidence reliability	bias-detection	Assess systematic biases in evidence body

Manifest

Strategies (5)

Strategy	Purpose
pairwise-synthesis	Paired meta-analysis protocol for two-method comparison
network-comparison	Network meta-analysis for N-method simultaneous comparison
cumulative-tracking	Cumulative meta-analysis tracking evidence over time
heterogeneity-investigation	Explain inter-study variation in findings
bias-detection	Systematic bias assessment of evidence body

Tactics (3)

Tactic	Purpose
effect-size-extraction	Extract effect sizes and conditions from papers
quality-assessment-protocol	Methodological quality and bias risk assessment
evidence-synthesis-planning	Plan the statistical synthesis approach

Subagent SOPs (10)

SOP	Purpose
pico-formulation	Construct PICO/PECO framework
inclusion-criteria-design	Define inclusion/exclusion criteria
effect-size-planning	Determine effect size types and calculation methods
data-extraction-form	Design structured data extraction form
risk-of-bias-assessment	Assess methodological bias (RoB2/PROBAST/QUADAS-2)
heterogeneity-source-analysis	Identify and classify heterogeneity sources
publication-bias-assessment	Plan funnel plots, Egger's test, trim-and-fill, p-curve
sensitivity-analysis-design	Design leave-one-out, influence diagnostics, subgroups
evidence-network-construction	Build evidence network graph for NMA
meta-analysis-synthesis	Produce final meta-analysis protocol document

Budget Table

Strategy	Studies	Effect Sizes	Web Searches
pairwise-synthesis	30	30	40
network-comparison	50	80	60
cumulative-tracking	40	40	30
heterogeneity-investigation	30	30	50
bias-detection	40	40	40

MCP Tools

MCP Server	Tools
brave-search	brave_web_search, brave_llm_context
apify	rag-web-browser, google-scholar-scraper
alphaxiv	get_paper_content, answer_pdf_queries
semantic-scholar	ss_relevance_search, ss_paper, ss_references, ss_citations

Context Management

• Input: Research question, domain, candidate studies (optional)
• State: Strategy state ledgers track studies found, effect sizes extracted, quality assessed
• Output: Complete meta-analysis protocol document (PRISMA-compliant)
• Persistence: All intermediate outputs stored in context/meta-analysis/ subdirectories per strategy

Available Strategies

Optional, no fixed order; the final leaf is always a sop.

Strategy	When to use
bias-detection	Assess systematic biases in the evidence body — publication bias, reporting bias, and selective outcome reporting. Budget: 40 studies, 40 effect sizes, 40 web searches.
cumulative-tracking	Track evidence accumulation over time — cumulative meta-analysis protocol design. Budget: 40 studies, 40 effect sizes, 30 web searches.
heterogeneity-investigation	Explain why different studies reach different conclusions — heterogeneity investigation protocol. Budget: 30 studies, 30 effect sizes, 50 web searches.
network-comparison	Compare N methods simultaneously including indirect evidence — network meta-analysis protocol design. Budget: 50 studies, 80 effect sizes, 60 web searches.
pairwise-synthesis	Compare two methods across multiple studies — paired meta-analysis protocol design. Budget: 30 studies, 30 effect sizes, 40 web searches.

Available SOPs

Optional, no fixed order; the final leaf is always a sop.

SOP	When to use
context-checkpoint	Append research process and results to the current Phase's context file. Covers both process and results with genuine substance. Use this skill at plan-designated checkpoint points — typically after each strategy completes or at key decision nodes within a research Phase.
context-init	Create a new context file for a research Phase. Called once at Phase start to initialize the file that subsequent context-checkpoint calls will append to. Use this skill whenever a new research Phase begins and a fresh context file is needed.