Using Weighted P-Values in Fisher's Method

TL;DR

This paper introduces a mathematically proven extension of Fisher's method that allows for combining p-values with arbitrary weights, enhancing its flexibility for meta-analyses.

Contribution

The paper presents a new weighted Fisher's method for combining p-values, generalizing the original approach to include arbitrary weights with a formal proof.

Findings

The method is mathematically validated with proof.

It enables more flexible meta-analyses with weighted p-values.

Potential for improved statistical power in combined testing.

Abstract

Fisher's method prescribes a way to combine p-values from multiple experiments into a single p-value. However, the original method can only determine a combined p-value analytically if all constituent p-values are weighted equally. Here we present, with proof, a method to combine p-values with arbitrary weights.