The meta-analytic big bang.

This article looks at the impact of meta-analysis and then explores why meta-analysis was developed at the time and by the scholars it did in the social sciences in the 1970s. For the first problem, impact, it examines the impact of meta-analysis using citation network analysis. The impact is seen in the sciences, arts and humanities, and on such contemporaneous developments as multilevel modeling, medical statistics, qualitative methods, program evaluation, and single-case design. Using a constrained snowball sample of citations, we highlight key articles that are either most highly cited or most central to the systematic review network. Then, the article examines why meta-analysis came to be in the 1970s in the social sciences through the work of Gene Glass, Robert Rosenthal, and Frank Schmidt, each of whom developed similar theories of meta-analysis at about the same time. The article ends by explaining how Simonton's chance configuration theory and Campbell's evolutionary epistemology can illuminate why meta-analysis occurred with these scholars when it did and not in medical sciences.

The impact of psychological trauma on wages in post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the last three decades, armed conflict has increasingly been fought among civilian populations, resulting in greater physical and mental tolls. Soldiers returning from combat with psychological trauma are now receiving medical and policy attention for reintegration into the workforce. However, there is little attention on the impacts and options available to civilians who may face similar problems achieving labor force success after exposure to war-related trauma. Using the Bosnia and Herzegovina Living Standards Measurement Survey for years 2001-2004, we study wage attainment for 7659 respondents in relation to a series of psychological trauma measures which correspond to those used in PTSD diagnosis. In standard OLS regression, all subcomponents of PTSD have a negative impact; however, once unobserved individual heterogeneity is taken into account, some of the individual elements of psychological trauma have positive impacts on wage attainment. This is one of the first studies to find evidence of Posttraumatic Growth using information beyond psychometric instruments. The impact of the PTSD condition itself is insignificant in both models, and we do not find evidence of selection bias. We determine that the traditional means of predicting wages in labor economics are relevant in a post-conflict environment.

Mapping the multidisciplinary field of public health services and systems research.

CONTEXT: Public health services and systems research (PHSSR) is the field of study charged with evaluating the public health system. PHSSR currently lacks a clear identity integrating the many theories, approaches, and disciplines contributing to the field. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: Experts in PHSSR were consulted to identify 11 key published PHSSR studies. With these articles as a starting point, a newly developed citation data collection system was used to collect a sample of 2986 documents connected to the key articles through citation linkages. Data were collected in October 2009. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Citation network methods and latent position cluster modeling were used to examine the network of documents. A subset of 108 documents comprising the backbone of the network was identified through main-path analysis. Four unique clusters were identified within the main path. The core cluster consisted of older articles focused on local health department activities, partnerships, and effectiveness. The three non-core clusters focused on public health law, behavioral interventions, and national performance standards. Although all non-core clusters cited the core, there was little crosstalk among the non-core clusters, a pattern consistent with multidisciplinary fields. CONCLUSIONS: PHSSR appears to be a multidisciplinary field with research happening in silos across different research areas. Developing transdisciplinary research connections across PHSSR is necessary to meet national PHSSR goals.