Inferences about the between-study variance in meta-analysis with normally distributed outcomes.

This paper presents a new approach for confidence interval estimation of the between-study variance in meta-analysis with normally distributed responses based on the concepts of generalized variables. Simulation study shows that the coverage probabilities of the proposed confidence intervals are generally satisfactory. Moreover, the proposed approach can easily provide P -values for hypothesis testing. For meta-analysis of controlled clinical trials or epidemiological studies, within which the responses are normally distributed, the proposed approach is an ideal candidate for making inference about the between-study variance.