後設分析的概念起源於十七世紀，係針對不同但相似的觀察值間，將各研究間進 行比較、整合後得到的統整性結論；二十世紀，K. Pearson運用此方法對不同臨床研究 進行數據分析，統合了數個利用血清接種的治療方式來預防士兵們感染傷寒（typhoid fever）。自此之後，後設分析的研究進入了蓬勃發展的時代。 英國教育心理學家G. Glass於1976年提出「後設分析」一詞，並將其定義為「針對以 往大量的研究結果進行系統定量綜合的統計研究方法」。為了適應不同研究的需要，多 種後設分析軟體被開發出來，為研究者提供良好的分析工具，不同的軟體在分析的功能 上也有所差異。本文以Koch、Kunz、Lykou與Cruz於2014年所發表之舞動治療對心理健 康成效的研究資料為例，使用R與Stata進行分析與報表解釋。

The historical roots of meta-analysis can be traced back to 17th century. The statistical synthesis of the data from separate but similar, i.e. comparable studies, leading to a quantitative summary of the pooled results. In 20th century, Karl Pearson were the fi rst to analyze clinical trial results using meta-analysis. He compared infection and mortality among soldiers who had volunteered for inoculation against typhoid fever with that of other soldiers who had not volunteered. From then on meta-analysis has become increasingly popular in many areas of science. In 1976, Gene Glass, coined the term “meta-analysis” to refer to “the statistical analysis of a large collection of analysis results from individual studies for the purpose of integrating the findings.” Computer software has also become indispensable in meta-analysis. Many programs have been developed enable users to choose that fi ts their own needs. Therefore, the purpose of our study was to applied meta-analysis with R and STATA for data analysis.