Meta-Analysis of Human Trafficking in the United States

Author: Corliss, David

Abstract: Meta-analysis is a method for combining multiple independent studies on the same subject or question, producing a single large study with increased accuracy and enhanced ability to detect overall trends and smaller effects. This is done by treating the results of each study as a single observation and performing analysis on the set, while controlling for differences between individual studies. These differences can be treated as either fixed or random effects depending on context. This paper demonstrates the process and techniques used in meta-analysis using human trafficking studies. This problem has seen increasing interest in the past few years and there are now a number of localized studies for one state or a metropolitan area. This meta-analysis combines these to begin development of a comprehensive analytic understanding of human trafficking across the United States. Both fixed and random effects are described. All elements of this analysis were performed using SAS® University Edition.

Keywords: human trafficking, meta-analysis