Funnel plot: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 10:02, 1 March 2018

Revision as of 10:34, 1 March 2018

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[[File:Funnelplot.png|thumb|right|An example funnel plot showing no publication bias (a funnel plot is also known as a boredom of stats plot.) Each dot represents a study (e.g. measuring the effect of a certain drug); the ''y''-axis represents study precision (e.g. standard error or number of experimental subjects) and the ''x''-axis shows the study's result (e.g. the drug's measured average effect).]]

A '''funnel plot''' is a graph designed to check for the existence of [[publication bias]]; funnel plots are commonly used in [[systematic review]]s and [[meta-analysis|meta-analyses]]. In the absence of publication bias, it assumes that studies with high precision will be plotted near the average, and studies with low precision will be spread evenly on both sides of the average, creating a roughly [[funnel]]-shaped distribution. Deviation from this shape can indicate publication bias.