I am currently working on a meta analysis and right now I am trying to do a moderator/moderation analysis but I have come across one problem: When I am trying to run the function {MA_SampleType <-rma(yi, vi, mods = ~ SampleType)} I can only see four of my five variables in the Model Results. The same problem occurs for all my other variables and in the regression analysis and the meta- regression as well. Now I have been trying to find a solution and that has been getting rid of the intercept like this: MA_SampleType <-rma(yi, vi, mods = ~ SampleType -1. Now without the intrcpt my results (mostly regarding p-value) are very different and I am unsure whether or not I should remove the intercept, which is why I am hoping for your input. Do I need the intercept at all?
For clarification: this is a meta analysis on the effects of psycho-therapeutic interventions on children, so there is no "Null" possibility in my data, all effect sizes are directly linked to an intervention, a therapy setting, etc.
Thank you so much for your help and time!
Based on my Google research I have already tried to remove the intercept from the Model Results but I don't know if I should keep the intercept or if it is not a problem to remove it in regards to the validity of my data. Also I have not found a way to include all my variables (in the case of SampleType that would be 5) and the intercept.
With intrcpt:
QM(df = 4) = 11.5171, p-val = 0.0213
Model Results:
estimate se zval pval ci.lb ci.ub
intrcpt 3.2570 0.8764 3.7162 0.0002 1.5392 4.9747 ***
SampleTypeintervention_group -1.6782 0.9025 -1.8595 0.0630 -3.4469 0.0906 .
SampleTypeno_treatment -2.8170 0.9569 -2.9440 0.0032 -4.6924 -0.9416 **
SampleTypeother_treatment -1.7642 0.9320 -1.8930 0.0584 -3.5908 0.0624 .
SampleTypepharmacotherapy -1.7374 1.2259 -1.4172 0.1564 -4.1401 0.6653
without intrcpt:
QM(df = 5) = 94.2744, p-val < .0001
Model Results:
estimate se zval pval ci.lb ci.ub
SampleTypeCBT_pharmaco 3.2570 0.8764 3.7162 0.0002 1.5392 4.9747 ***
SampleTypeintervention_group 1.5788 0.2152 7.3362 <.0001 1.1570 2.0006 ***
SampleTypeno_treatment 0.4400 0.3840 1.1458 0.2519 -0.3126 1.1926
SampleTypeother_treatment 1.4927 0.3169 4.7105 <.0001 0.8716 2.1138 ***
SampleTypepharmacotherapy 1.5196 0.8571 1.7729 0.0763 -0.1604 3.1996 .