Meta-Analysis in Accounting Research

In the humanities and behavioral sciences according to the nature and subject of the study, sometimes researchers in their studies about a single topic not reach to the same conclusion but there are contradictions in their research perhaps due to the inaccuracy of measurement tools. A technique, called meta- analysis, was proposed to reduce such contradictions. Meta-Analysis reviews research systematically to find, evaluate, combine and summarize resources that which have already been written about a specific topic. The most important advantage of meta- analysis studies is that, by integrating the results of different studies, they identify moderator structural variables of previous findings and increase the power of the study in order to come up with meaningful results. This feature has caused a remarkably increased number of meta-analysis researches in several sciences in recent years. Given the conflicting results found in accounting researches, especially in areas such as corporate governance, financial reporting, the necessity of the application of this technique has become more prominent in accounting. The aim of this article is the introduction of meta-analysis and its methodology in studies for the accounting researchers.