Table 1.

Data patterns in the simulations for mean difference (MD)

MD	Equal study sizes	Unequal study sizes	Full results in
			Bakbergenuly et al33
			Appendices:
K (number of studies)	5, 10, 30	5, 10, 30
n or $\overline{n}$ (average (individual) study size—total of the two arms)	20, 40, 100, 250	30 (12, 16, 18, 20, 84),
For K=10 and K=30, the same set of unequal study sizes		60 (24, 32, 36, 40, 168),
is used twice or six times, respectively		100 (64, 72, 76, 80, 208),
		160 (124, 132, 136, 140, 268)
q (proportion of each study in the control arm)	1/2, 3/4	1/2, 3/4
First series of within‐study variances:
μ	0	0	B1, B2; B3, B4
${\sigma }_C^2,{\sigma }_T^2$(within‐study variances)	(1,1), (1,2)	(1,1), (1,2)
τ 2 (variance of random effect)	0(0.01)0.1(0.1)1	0(0.01)0.1(0.1)1	A1, A2; A3, A4
Second series of within‐study variances:
μ	0	0	B5, B6
${\sigma }_C^2,{\sigma }_T^2$ (within‐study variances)	(10,10), (10,20)	(10,10), (10,20)
τ 2 (variance of random effect)	0(0.1)1	0(0.1)1	A5, A6