meta-analysis

meta–anal·y·sis

noun \ˌmet-ə-ə-ˈnal-ə-səs\

Definition of META-ANALYSIS

: quantitative statistical analysis that is applied to separate but similar experiments of different and usually independent researchers and that involves pooling the data and using the pooled data to test the effectiveness of the results <the report…on low cholesterol presented a comprehensive meta–analysis of 32 randomized studies involving 42,000 individuals—Scientific American Medicine Bulletin>