Accessing MetaLab data

Released data

MetaLab data are published as versioned, citable releases (hosted on Redivis). get_metalab_data() reads a release — one row per effect size across all datasets — and announces which release it used:

metalab_data <- get_metalab_data()
if (!is.null(metalab_data)) {
  dim(metalab_data)
}

For reproducible analyses, pin the release your paper used rather than tracking "current":

metalab_2023 <- get_metalab_data(version = "2023.1")
if (!is.null(metalab_2023)) {
  nrow(metalab_2023)
}

get_metalab_versions() lists the available releases:

str(get_metalab_versions(), max.level = 2)

Reading released data requires the redivis package (not on CRAN):

install.packages("redivis",
                 repos = c("https://langcog.r-universe.dev",
                           "https://cloud.r-project.org"))

The dataset registry

get_metalab_metadata() reads the registry: one row per dataset, with domains, citations, curators, summary counts, and each dataset’s coded moderators:

metadata <- get_metalab_metadata()
if (!is.null(metadata)) {
  metadata[1:5, c("name", "domain", "num_papers", "num_experiments")]
}

Working with effect sizes

Individual datasets can be selected on read. Every dataset carries the calculated effect sizes (d_calc, g_calc, r_calc, log_odds_calc), their variances, and the standard MetaLab derived columns (mean_age_months, same_infant_calc for clustering, and so on):

mutex <- get_metalab_data(short_names = "mutex", version = "2023.1")
if (!is.null(mutex)) {
  summary(mutex$g_calc)
}

The package includes the standard MetaLab visualizations, backed by the same multilevel random-effects models (metafor::rma.mv with effect sizes nested in participant groups nested in papers) used on the MetaLab site — scatter, violin, forest, and funnel plots, plus Egger’s regression test for funnel asymmetry:

if (!is.null(mutex)) {
  metalab_funnel_plot(mutex, "mutex")
}

if (!is.null(mutex)) {
  metalab_funnel_test(mutex, "mutex")
}

Current data without dependencies

get_current_metalab_data() downloads the current release’s effect sizes from the MetaLab site with no account or extra packages — the same data frame get_metalab_data() returns, restricted to the current release:

current <- get_current_metalab_data()
if (!is.null(current)) {
  dim(current)
}

Citing MetaLab

If you use MetaLab data, please cite the release you used (shown in every data-access message), the dataset(s) you analyzed (citations are in the registry’s full_citation column), and the MetaLab platform papers — see metalab.stanford.edu for the current citation policy.