Methods of Synthesis and Integration Center (MOSAIC)
MOSAIC is committed to conducting high quality research synthesis, improving research synthesis methods, and promoting the use and uptake of reviews and meta-analyses.
Evidence can inform decision-making for the critical issues that affect our daily lives. The Methods of Synthesis and Integration Center (MOSAIC) is a collection of experts, evidence, and tools to improve research and practice.
MOSAIC experts:
- Conduct high quality evidence synthesis research. Our projects include systematic reviews, meta-analyses, methodological examinations, trainings, and knowledge translation.
- Create products for applied reviewers and meta-analysts. We create interactive web tools to show how to synthesize research findings, to identify gaps in the literature, and to collect evidence synthesis information.
- Improve systematic review and meta-analysis research methods. We conduct methodological reviews, simulation studies, and validity tests of various statistical and review software.
- Promote the use and uptake of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. We disseminate research in peer-reviewed journals or academic conferences, translate findings into reader-friendly briefs, teach workshops, and develop instructional videos and guides.
Who Is MOSAIC for?
Our products are designed for all who generate, fund, and consume research.
- Primary researchers can use our applications to build their own meta-analyses from existing data, allowing for the estimation of anticipated effect sizes for a given program, practice, or policy. Such effect sizes can then be used in power analyses to optimize research design.
- Meta-analysts can refer to our briefs and methodological innovations to expand their evidence synthesis knowledge and adopt best practices in their own work.
- Funders and policymakers can generate evidence gap maps to describe the existing evidence on a given topic, allowing for easy identification of program components, populations, and designs that should be prioritized in future research.
Above all, we strive to create tools and resources that advance an integrated understanding of key content areas in the social and behavioral sciences.
The Latest from MOSAIC
We are working to transform research into a digestible format. Here are five synthesis projects we translated into short briefs:
- Every Student Succeeds Act Evidence Review on Arts Learning
- A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Interventions to Decrease Cyberbullying Perpetration and Victimization
- Exploring Heterogeneity in Mathematics Intervention Effects Using Meta-Analysis
- How Responsive Is a Teacher’s Classroom Practice to Intervention? A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Field Studies
- A What Works Clearinghouse Rapid Evidence Review of Distance Learning Programs
We develop videos and guides that illustrate the differences between systematic review and meta-analyses, instruct how to read a meta-analysis of intervention studies, and describe how to conduct a high quality review. Learn more on our Resources page.
We have been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to start the STEM Education Core Research (ECR) Hub. The Hub is a resource center devoted to creating portfolio analysis tools and evidence snapshots for NSF-funded STEM education research projects to support diverse research communities.
Diverse Partners
MOSAIC receives funding from multiple partners, including:
- Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- International Initiative for Impact Evaluation
- National Science Foundation
- U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences
- National Center for Education Research
- National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance
- U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice
- Wallace Foundation
