Learning to synthesize, synthesizing to learn: insights on teaching meta-analysis with the goal to facilitate discovery with research synthesis
A decade of effort by the research synthesis community has resulted in considerable opportunities and resources to learn meta-analysis—paired with large language AI models, there really is no easier time to learn meta-analysis on your own. But is this the best way? Reflecting on earlier periods when opportunities were limited, I explore how these limitations impacted what was achievable with research synthesis. I then discuss how this experience shapes my approach to communicate and teach meta-analysis, and how I try to address the gap between the need to teach technical details (why we do meta-analysis) and student priorities for practical details (how we do meta-analysis). Finally, I outline my strategy of teaching meta-analysis by doing meta-analysis, exposing both failures and successes. There is still a role for the teacher in research synthesis, and the role I find most rewarding given all the available resources, is the one that aims to jointly optimize learning with the generation of new knowledge.