Effect Size in Education Research
An effect size is a standardized, scale-free measure of the magnitude of a difference or relationship — how big an effect is, not just whether it is statistically significant. In education research it is the common currency for reporting intervention impacts and for combining studies in meta-analysis, with the standardized mean difference (Cohen's d, or its bias-corrected form Hedges' g) the most familiar. Effect sizes let researchers compare effects across studies, outcomes, and scales, and translate statistical results into terms practitioners can weigh.
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Sources
- Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. ISBN: 9780805802832
- What Works Clearinghouse. (2022). What Works Clearinghouse Procedures and Standards Handbook, Version 5.0. Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. link ↗
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 22). Effect Sizes for Quantifying and Synthesizing Educational Interventions. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/education/effect-size-education
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