[R-meta] Question on funnel plot interpretation

[Gabriel Cotlier]

Hello all,

I have produced a funnel plot on the basis of an rma.mv() object applied to
all the data set together ( not subsetting  using moderators ) as follows:

[image: image.png]


When looking at the figure I tried to think that maybe one of the following
two interpretations could be the correct one:

a.   There is a kind of random scattering of the effect sizes, therefore no
symmetry is found and thus publication bised is observed.
b.  Given the randomness of the effect sizes distribution covering the
plot's space unevenly there is not a clear pattern that can indicate
publication bias is observed.

Is any of this interpretation the correct one?

Thanks a lot.
Kind regards,
Gabriel


#### CODE. ######
funnel_all <- rma.mv(yi,
                     vi,
                     random = ~ 1 | Article / Sample_ID,
                     data=dat)
png(file = "funnel.png",
    width = 250,
    height = 200,
    res = 600,
    units = "mm")
# par(mfrow = c(2, 1))

# full data
f1 <- funnel(funnel_all,
             yaxis = "seinv",
             level = c(90, 95, 99),
             ylim = c(1, 20),
             shade = c("white", "gray55", "gray75"),
             refline = 0,
             legend = TRUE)
mtext("A", side = 3, line = 0, adj = -0.13, cex = 2)

dev.off()

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