Multilevel Analysis for Applied Research: It's Just Regression! (Methodology In The Social Sciences),   ISBN:9781593851910

Customer Rating: 

Before purchasing this book, I read previous reviews regarding the absence of data sets. Since publishing the book, the author has provided data sets on his website. Unfortunately, many of the data sets have similar names and cover similar material, and it is not always clear which data set the author is referring to within each section of the book. In addition, the variable names in the data sets do not match those in the book, and (often times) the variables in the book have been adjusted, such that they are slightly different from those provided in the online data sets.

All of this is important because the author spends A LOT of time explaining the data sets in his examples, and even provides step-by-step "guides" to running analyses that are based on his specific data sets. For me, it was annoying and distracting that I never knew if I was using the right data and variables. When purchasing it, I thought I could use this book to get the basic concepts of multilevel analysis down and that the use of the data sets was not needed, I was wrong. It is helpful to have a user-friendly guide when you are learning something new, and in the current state, this book is not user-friendly.

If the author would simply provide well named data sets that match those in the book (i.e., have the exact same variables and variable names), all of these problems could be fixed. However, it has been a while since the book was published, and he has not done this. I'd recommend finding another book if you want to really learn MLM.

Customer Rating: 

There is a need for a text pitched at readers without strong statistical backgrounds. Unfortunately, this is not the one.

For some reason, the author feels defensive about multilevel methodology, and seems too spend much of the first several chapters apologizing for it. Beyond that, though, he jumps around too much -- for example, presenting results and promising to explain them later -- and fails to define key ideas (such as "nesting" and "contextual variables") Overall, it lacks focus.

Customer Rating: 

Oberall, this book is accessible to most graduate students of the social sciences. However, my only concern is where the heck can the reader get the same data sets as the procedures follow?! So, if you are buying this book for learning multilevel analysis, just realize that you do not have access to the data sets the author talks about.

Customer Rating: 

A good book. Very good examples. I missed some reference to the mathematical derivations of the econometric techniques being used. Also, it would be nice that the data sets were available online.