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Meta-analyses were conducted of previous studies to assess the influence of techniques designed to enhance mail survey response rates, using 184 study outcomes (effects) from 115 articles (studies) for 17 predictors of survey response rate. Across all manipulations, the average effect size was .065, suggesting a 6.5% increase in response rates. For specific predictors, results suggest that preliminary notification, follow-ups, appeals, provision of a return envelope, postage, & monetary incentives significantly increased response rates. Effect sizes for these predictors translated into increases in response rates of 2%-31%. The moderating effects of year of publication & type of sample, as well as implications of the results for the conduct of mail surveys & future research in the area are discussed. 4 Tables, 1 Appendix, 27 References. AA

Wikipedia is an unavoidable resource when we do a web search with the aim of obtaining information. Its content is built from a bottom-up perspective and for this reason it is not always accepted in academia. However, this is not the view of the Wikimedia Foundation. Thus, under the motto "Wikipedia belongs to education", the Wikimedia Foundation has partnered with educational institutions through the Wikipedia Education Program, which includes the Wikipedia in University Program. Within this scenario, it was considered important to do the meta-analysis of the page related to the courses offered in the context of this program with regard to the Wikipedian Portuguese speaking community. For this purpose, methodologically, we followed the MAECC®, the Meta-model to Analyse and Explore Scientific Knowledge®. Our corpus includes 22 Higher Education institutions, 21 of which are Brazilian and 1 Portuguese – Universidade Aberta (Open University Portugal). In this text, we will present the meta-analysis grid created to meet the research aims, identifying the data obtained in all the 5 macro categories of the MAECC® model. In general, the meta-analysed courses are diverse and refer to dynamic practices and valid work strategies.

Abstract The purpose of this working paper is to rehearse the approach, methods and preliminary findings of the first stage of the EU Seventh Framework programme project Co-ordinating for Cohesion in the Public Sector of the Future (hereafter COCOPS – see www.cocops.eu). This first stage (Work Package 1) was tasked to produce a meta-analysis of the impacts of New Public Management (NPM) reforms across the EU. In this paper, therefore, we will first set out what we mean by (respectively) NPM, impacts and meta-analysis, and then go on to review the substance of our findings thus far. The database currently has over 500 documents, including academic articles and books, government reports and consultancy studies. It covers 23 EU member states, plus Norway, Switzerland and Croatia, plus the European Commission itself. Its contents are not yet absolutely finalised, but our collection, coding and quality checking have reached the point where we do not expect the broad conclusions to change very much. This is therefore an appropriate time to issue a Working Paper.

'Eine integrative Analyse qualitativer und quantitativer Daten stellt eine große Chance dar, soziologische Forschungsergebnisse auf eine fundierte und breite Basis zu stellen. Dabei geht es nicht nur um die Aufdeckung relevanter inhaltlicher Strukturen sondern auch um die Weiterentwicklung methodischer Denkweisen und Verfahren. In diesem Sinne sind vor allem metaanalytische Verfahren zu entwickeln und zu prüfen, die es erlauben, Daten unterschiedlicher Designs, Erhebungszeitpunkte oder Untersuchungseinheiten vergleichend zu betrachten. Eine hierfür geeignete Methode ist die Korrespondenzanalyse, da Harmonisierung der Datenniveaus, Angleichung durch Prozentuierung und Veranschaulichung durch grafische Darstellung eine viel versprechende Grundlage für eine quantitativ-qualitative Metaanalyse darstellen. Diese Methode wird anhand des Beispiels Mobilfunk vorgestellt und zur Diskussion gestellt. Dabei gestehen wir ein, dass qualitative Analysen in einigen methodischen Aspekten streitbarer sind als quantitative Verfahren. So gibt es beispielsweise kein einheitliches Verfahren zur Überprüfung der Güte einer qualitativen Studie. Trotz dieser Probleme sollte die Berücksichtigung von Forschungsergebnissen divergierender Ansätze zukünftig weiter verfolgt werden. Der stark deskriptive Charakter im qualitativen Bereich und der konfirmatorische Ansatz quantitativer Analysen scheinen im Hinblick auf die Illustration und Integration bestehender Forschungsergebnisse eine sinnvolle Ergänzung zu sein.' (Autorenreferat)

The aim of this study was to evaluate a rapid systematic review method in which randomised controlled trial (RCT) data was extracted from existing reviews and subsequent RCTs. The method enabled: identification of RCTs not included by existing reviews; cross-checking RCT data for consistency where there was more than one review; double data extraction due to time saved by extracting data from existing reviews; correction of data synthesis errors in existing reviews; and pooling data across all RCTs to produce contemporary effect estimates. When subsequently compared to extracting data directly from all RCT original publications, the findings and conclusions concurred.

The existence of a European public sphere is often disputed –not only in communication and media science. A common thesis in research is that a European public sphere can be constituted via the Europeanization of reporting in the national media. On the basis of a qualitatively oriented meta-analysis, this article aims to answer the question whether such Europeanization is taking place in European countries. With reference to 17 studies analysing media content from several European countries, the empirical research carried out in German, English and French since the beginning of the 1990s is systematically evaluated. All of the studies examined compare European topics being reported in the media in different European countries. The meta-analysis shows that in the 15 member states of the European Union prior to the 2004 enlargement, developmental tendencies of differing degrees towards a Europeanization of the national public spheres are discernible. Overall, EU topics account for an extremely small proportion of the reporting in the particular national media. Players at EU level only feature in minor roles. It can be concluded that the public spheres of the EU states continue to exhibit a strong national orientation. Keeping in mind that there has been little empirical research in this field so far, the results of this analysis are a first step towards a systematization of the existing research –at a time when the debate about a European public sphere becomes even more important against the background of the ongoing expansion of the EU.

Background Evidence for a protective role of physical activity against development of stomach cancer is yet inconclusive. We studied the association of domain-specific physical activity and the risk of gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC), by site and histology, in the MCC-Spain case-control study. Methods 428 histologically confirmed GAC cases (67% men) including the gastro-esophageal region and 3225 controls were included. Cases were recruited in hospitals from 10 different Spanish regions, whereas population controls were randomly selected within the respective hospitals' catchment areas. A physical activity (PA) questionnaire was used to gather information on household and recreational activities, allowing estimation of PA volume (in metabolic equivalents (MET)-min/week). Participants also reported the intensity of working PA and daily sitting time. Questionnaire data on diet, lifestyles and clinical variables including Helicobacter pylori serology were available. Adjusted odds ratios (OR) of GAC were estimated for domains of physical activity, stratifying by sex, site (cardia vs. non-cardia), and Lauren classification (intestinal vs. diffuse). Results Household physical activity (HPA) showed a strong inverse association with GAC, observed for both cardia and non-cardia tumours. Risk of overall gastric cancer was 50% lower risk among participants in the highest HPA category (OR = 0.50, 95`)Cl: 0.38, 0.66). Recreational physical activity (RPA) was also associated with lower overall GAC risk (OR = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.52, 0.88), particularly at moderate levels of intensity such as walking (OR = 0.61, 95% CI: 0.46, 0.79). The protective effect of RPA was strongest for non-cardia tumours. Sedentary time was not related to GAC risk (p-trend = 0.392), but the potential protective effect of RPA was restricted to non -sedentary participants. Conclusions Both household and recreational physical activities were independently related to lower GAC risk in the MCC-Spain study. ; The study was partially funded by the 'Action Transversal del Cancer', approved by the Spanish Ministry Council on 11 October 2007, by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III-FEDER (PI08/1770, PI08/1359, PI09/00773, PI09/01286, PI09/01903, PI09/02078, PI09/01662, PI11/01403, PI11/01889, PI12/00265), the Fundacion Marques de Valdecilla (API 10/09), the Junta de Castilla y Leon (LE22A10-2), the Consejeria de Salud of the Junta de Andalucia (2009-S0143), the Conselleria de Sanitat of the Generalitat Valenciana (AP_061/10), the Recercaixa (2010ACUP 00310), the Regional Government of the Basque Country, the Consejeria de Sanidad de la Region de Murcia, the European Commission grants FOOD-CT-2006-036224-HIWATE, the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) Scientific Foundation, the Catalan Government DURSI grant 2014SGR647, the Fundacion Caja de Ahorros de Asturias and by the University of Oviedo.