WMA: Wizard System Architecture for the execution of meta-analysis: A case study applied to verify the efficacy of fluquinconazole in the control of Asian soybean rust

Abstract

Meta-analysis is a probabilistic technique that combines results from several studies that approach the same topic and produce a result that sums up the whole. In the agricultural fi eld, it is used to make empirical estimates of effi ciency for the development of productivity and economic research on agriculture. Meta-analysis can be applied through software such as R, which is executed through commands, and produces results without providing user interactivity, nor does it reproduce a friendly and easy-to-understand interface. This paper presents the creation of a computer system, the WMA, which aims to simplify the execution of meta-analysis, providing a graphical interface and improves the display of the results through an interactive visualization using the Hierarchical Information Visualization Technique Bifocal Tree. For validation, the meta-analysis was applied in the agricultural area in a case study that grouped studies that used the fungicide fl uquinconazole to combat the soybean rust disease, the results obtained through the application of the meta-analysis were analyzed using the WMA proposed tool.