The literature review and meta-analysis: 2 journalism tools you should use

The literature review and meta-analysis: 2 journalism tools you should use:

When journalists want to learn what’s known about a certain subject, they look for research. Scholars are continually conducting studies on education topics ranging from kindergarten readiness and teacher pay to public university funding and Ivy League admissions.

One of the best ways for a reporter to get up to date quickly, though, is to read a study of studies, which come in two forms: a literature review and a meta-analysis.

A literature review is what it sounds like — a review of all the academic literature that exists on a specific issue or research question. If your school district or state is considering a new policy or approach, there’s no better way to educate yourself on what’s already been learned. Your news coverage also benefits from literature reviews: Rather than hunting down studies on your own and then worrying whether you found the right ones, you can, instead, share the results of a literature review that already has done that legwork for you.