How does a PhD student go about doing a meta analysis of a research question? I just thought that I would put this question out here because I am currently working on a meta analysis of a particular research question in my field (HCI/information science). Moreover, this question is new and has not been answered in very detail so far.

I have done most of the usual ways described in other resources as follows:


I have done a comprehensive review of the relevant literature pertaining to this particular research question. This is a new area and the number of directly relevant papers are ~&lt;50. I have also compiled an exhaustive bibliography of the indirectly relevant papers in this area. That number is ~&lt;150.
Out of this set of directly relevant literature, I have identified 23 quantitative empirical studies, 14 qualitative empirical studies and the rest are theoretical pieces/position pieces/framework papers.


The challenge I am currently facing is how to meta-analyze the data. In HCI, it is not common to freely distribute empirical datasets (although signs of change are imminent in the atmosphere. :)) and I have sent out polite emails to the relevant researchers inquiring if I could have some manner of access to these datasets. The rate of response is ~50% so far in responding to my email but only about ~5% want to actively share their datasets.

Therefore, the only other option (that I can see right now) is to compile, summarize and make sense of data and results already reported in the qualitative and quantitative papers.

I was wondering if any of you experienced (and also not-so-experienced :)) academicians/researchers had any insights into how to actually go about doing a meta analysis from the bottom up.

The main online resources which I have been using so far to tackle this problem is given


www.statistical-solutions-software.com/what-is-meta-analysis, 
www.wilderdom.com/research/meta-analysis.html, 
www.psychwiki.com/wiki/Meta-analysis and 
echo.edres.org:8080/meta/.


Please do note that I am not expecting any detailed step-by-step "spoonfeeding" response. Pointing me to some helpful resources is fine. In addition, personal anecdotes or valuable experiences will be really appreciated.

Thank you for taking the time to read this question.
Good luck to you. I'm trying to do something similar and found that few HCI papers publish enough summary statistics to conduct a proper meta-analysis. Indeed, a lot of the time, their stats seem quite sloppy. 

I've styled my analysis similar to two review papers I found. One from the HCI area as well (Dehn &amp; Van Mulken, 2000) and one from a bit more outfield (Jones &amp; Gosling, 2005).

Neither is a true meta-analysis, but they get as close to formal as I think it's reasonable to get when an actual meta-analysis is simply not an option.


Dehn &amp; Van Mulken (2000) The impact of animated interface agents: a review of empirical research
Jones &amp; Gosling (2005) Temperament and personality in dogs (Canis familiaris): A review and evaluation of past research