Different estimation methods for covariance parameters in meta-analyses can result in conflicting p-values concerning the test of treatment effect. We propose a valid method to overcome this problem at least partially by introducing a new estimator for the standard deviation of the common...

In many fields of applications, test statistics are obtained by combining estimates from several experiments, studies or centres of a multicentre trial. The commonly used test procedure to judge the evidence of a common overall effect can result in a considerable overestimation of the...