How to Calculate Effect Sizes from Published Research: A Simplified Spreadsheet

By Will Thalheimer and Samantha Cook

Note: This spreadsheet follows the same outline as the article by Thalheimer and Cook (2002).
How to Calculate Effect Sizes from Published Research: A Simplified Methodology

Updated April 2003 to deal more effectively with situations where the treatment-group mean is lower than the comparison-group mean.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sheet 1 -- Calculating Cohen's d from t-test

Sheet 2 -- Calculating Cohen's d from t-test when you don't have Standard Deviations or Standard Errors
Sheet 3 -- Calculating Cohen's d from t-test when you have Standard Errors instead of Standard Deviations

Sheet 4 -- Calculating Cohen's d from F-test

Sheet 5 -- Calculating Cohen's d from F-test when you don't have MSE's

Sheet 1 -- Calculating Cohen's d from t-tests

d= xt − xc
(nt −1)st + (nc −1)sc
2 2

nt + nc
Subjects Mean Standard Deviation
Treatment Condition 25 100 100 Input Appropriate Numbers
Comparison Condition 25 400 75 in the cells to the left!!

Cohen's d 3.46 huge effect Relative Size of Cohen's d

negligible effect (>= -0.15 and <.15)
numerator -300 small effect (>=.15 and <.40)
den's num 1st 240000 medium effect (>=.40 and <.75)
den's num 2nd 135000 large effect (>=.75 and <1.10)
den's denominator 50 very large effect (>=1.10 and <1.45)
den's total (s pooled) 86.6 huge effect >1.45

Percent Change Relative Size of % Change

(From Comparison to Treatment)
-75
huge decrease huge decrease <-75
very large decrease (<=-50 and >-75)
large decrease (<=-30 and >-50)
medium decrease (<=-15 and >-30)
small decrease (<=-5 and >-15)
negligible change (>= -5 and <5)
small increase (>=5 and <15)
medium increase (>=15 and <30)
large increase (>=30 and <50)
very large increase (>=50 and <75)
huge increase >75
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sheet 1 -- Calculating Cohen's d from t-test

Sheet 2 -- Calculating Cohen's d from t-test when you don't have Standard Deviations or Standard Errors
Sheet 3 -- Calculating Cohen's d from t-test when you have Standard Errors instead of Standard Deviations

Sheet 4 -- Calculating Cohen's d from F-test

Sheet 5 -- Calculating Cohen's d from F-test when you don't have MSE's

Sheet 2 -- Calculating Cohen's d from t-tests

when you don't have Standard Deviations or Standard Errors

 nt + nc  nt + nc 
d = t   
 nt nc  nt + nc −2 
Subjects t statistic
Treatment Condition 230 4.73 Input Appropriate Numbers
Comparison Condition 230 in the cells to the left!!

Cohen's d 0.44 medium effect Relative Size of Cohen's d

negligible effect (>= -0.15 and <.15)
1st numerator 460 small effect (>=.15 and <.40)
1st denominator 52900 medium effect (>=.40 and <.75)
2nd numerator 460 large effect (>=.75 and <1.10)
2nd denominator 458 very large effect (>=1.10 and <1.45)
Within Square Root 0.09 huge effect >1.45
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sheet 1 -- Calculating Cohen's d from t-test

Sheet 2 -- Calculating Cohen's d from t-test when you don't have Standard Deviations or Standard Errors
Sheet 3 -- Calculating Cohen's d from t-test when you have Standard Errors instead of Standard Deviations

Sheet 4 -- Calculating Cohen's d from F-test

Sheet 5 -- Calculating Cohen's d from F-test when you don't have MSE's

Sheet 3 -- Calculating Cohen's d from t-tests

when you have Standard Errors instead of Standard Deviations

d= xt − xc
( )
(nt −1) SEt n t 2 + (nc −1) SEc n c ( ) 2

nt + nc
Subjects Mean Standard Errors
Treatment Condition 24 57 0.23 Input Appropriate Numbers
Comparison Condition 24 53 0.27 in the cells to the left!!

Cohen's d 3.34 huge effect Relative Size of Cohen's d

negligible effect (>= -0.15 and <.15)
numerator 4 small effect (>=.15 and <.40)
den's num 1st 28.19 medium effect (>=.40 and <.75)
den's num 2nd 40.84 large effect (>=.75 and <1.10)
den's denominator 48 very large effect (>=1.10 and <1.45)
den's total (s pooled) 1.2 huge effect >1.45

Percent Change negligible change Relative Size of % Change

(From Comparison to Treatment)
8
huge decrease <-75
very large decrease (<=-50 and >-75)
large decrease (<=-30 and >-50)
medium decrease (<=-15 and >-30)
small decrease (<=-5 and >-15)
negligible change (>= -5 and <5)
small increase (>=5 and <15)
medium increase (>=15 and <30)
large increase (>=30 and <50)
very large increase (>=50 and <75)
huge increase >75
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sheet 1 -- Calculating Cohen's d from t-test

Sheet 2 -- Calculating Cohen's d from t-test when you don't have Standard Deviations or Standard Errors
Sheet 3 -- Calculating Cohen's d from t-test when you have Standard Errors instead of Standard Deviations

Sheet 4 -- Calculating Cohen's d from F-test

Sheet 5 -- Calculating Cohen's d from F-test when you don't have MSE's

Sheet 4 -- Calculating Cohen's d from F-tests

d= xt − xc
 n + n −2
MSE  t c 
 nt + nc 
Subjects Mean MSE
Treatment Condition 48 1.69 2.34 Input Appropriate Numbers
Comparison Condition 48 4.64 in the cells to the left!!

Cohen's d 1.95 huge effect Relative Size of Cohen's d

negligible effect (>= -0.15 and <.15)
numerator -2.95 small effect (>=.15 and <.40)
den's numerator 94 medium effect (>=.40 and <.75)
den's denominator 96 large effect (>=.75 and <1.10)
denominator total 1.51 very large effect (>=1.10 and <1.45)
huge effect >1.45

Percent Change negligible change Relative Size of % Change

(From Comparison to Treatment)
-64
huge decrease <-75
very large decrease (<=-50 and >-75)
large decrease (<=-30 and >-50)
medium decrease (<=-15 and >-30)
small decrease (<=-5 and >-15)
negligible change (>= -5 and <5)
small increase (>=5 and <15)
medium increase (>=15 and <30)
large increase (>=30 and <50)
very large increase (>=50 and <75)
huge increase >75
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sheet 1 -- Calculating Cohen's d from t-test

Sheet 2 -- Calculating Cohen's d from t-test when you don't have Standard Deviations or Standard Errors
Sheet 3 -- Calculating Cohen's d from t-test when you have Standard Errors instead of Standard Deviations

Sheet 4 -- Calculating Cohen's d from F-test

Sheet 5 -- Calculating Cohen's d from F-test when you don't have MSE's

Sheet 5 -- Calculating Cohen's d from F-tests

when you don't have MSE

 nt + nc  nt + nc 
d = F   
 nt nc  nt + nc − 2 
Subjects F statistic
Treatment Condition 22 8.39 Input Appropriate Numbers
Comparison Condition 33 in the cells to the left!!

Cohen's d 0.81 large effect Relative Size of Cohen's d

negligible effect (>= -0.15 and <.15)
1st numerator 55 small effect (>=.15 and <.40)
1st denominator 726 medium effect (>=.40 and <.75)
2nd numerator 55 large effect (>=.75 and <1.10)
2nd denominator 53 very large effect (>=1.10 and <1.45)
Within Square Root 0.81 huge effect >1.45