Hierarchical Linear Models: Applications and Data Analysis Methods (Advanced Quantitative Techniques in the Social Sciences) [Hardcover]

Stephen W. Raudenbush (Author), Anthony S. Bryk (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 19, 2001 | ISBN-10: 076191904X | ISBN-13: 978-0761919049 | Edition: 2nd

Popular in the First Edition for its rich, illustrative examples and lucid explanations of the theory and use of hierarchical linear models (HLM), the book has been reorganized into four parts with four completely new chapters. The first two parts, Part I on "The Logic of Hierarchical Linear Modeling" and Part II on "Basic Applications" closely parallel the first nine chapters of the previous edition with significant expansions and technical clarifications, such as:

* An intuitive introductory summary of the basic procedures for estimation and inference used with HLM models that only requires a minimal level of mathematical sophistication in Chapter 3
* New section on multivariate growth models in Chapter 6
* A discussion of research synthesis or meta-analysis applications in Chapter 7
* Data analytic advice on centering of level-1 predictors and new material on plausible value intervals and robust standard estimators

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The text is authoritative, well laid out, and extremely readable. For the target audience, this book is highly recommended."

(Short Book Reviews- Publication of the International Statistical Institute )

"This book is very well written and the applied part is well balanced with technical details. I think that it will be useful not only for social and behavioral researchers but also for applied statisticians, practitioners and students analyzing data with hierarchical-type structures"

(Zentralblat )

"The book is clearly written, well organized, and addresses an important topic. I would recommend this book to the readers of Personnel Psychology. If you want to learn more about these techniques, the new advances, the controversial points, potential links between HLM and meta-analysis, structural equations modeling, item response theory, and so forth , this book is a feast." (Robert G. Jones Personnel Psychology Book Review Section )

"This book makes good use of examples to introduce readers to HLM and the issues surrounding their application. In fact, I think the book does a wonderful job by using lots of examples with lots of details. This is definitely one of its strengths as it makes it much easier for the reader to follow the text and understand the capabilities of the HLM approach. This Second Edition should come highly recommended. I think it gives a very good and thorough overview of HLM, and it does so in a manner that is easy to follow." (Organizational Research Methods )

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc; 2nd edition (December 19, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076191904X
• ISBN-13: 978-0761919049
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #75,110 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #45 in Books > Education & Reference > Education > Research

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but sometimes skipping ahead too fast, March 9, 2006

By 

A. R. H. Fischer "Astro" (Utrecht, Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hierarchical Linear Models: Applications and Data Analysis Methods (Advanced Quantitative Techniques in the Social Sciences) (Hardcover)

This book gives a detailed description of the use of an advanced method to deal with nested data sets.
At a general level the constructs and ideas are well written and can be followed reasonably easily.
However the mathematics is often written very dense, which makes reading and understanding complex.
My main problem with the book, is that in many of the examples they provide, the given formula's, and data skip rapidly to the solution. Thus it is often not insightfull at all, how the data led to the numerical outcome (and I and several of my colleagues could not reproduce all of the example outcomes). A more extensive discussion and a more step-by-step construction of the examples would have been helpful there.

So in short: Conceptually this book is fine, but for practical use mathematics are too dense, and examples are too hard to follow

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars pre-req: mid-level stats experience, July 11, 2006

By 

Russell A. Carleton - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hierarchical Linear Models: Applications and Data Analysis Methods (Advanced Quantitative Techniques in the Social Sciences) (Hardcover)

I had taken a class in HLM before, and I bought this book to refresh myself on the details. It takes a good deal of attention to detail and concentration to really get the full measure from this book, although it's all in there. Despite the authors' best efforts, there is a good bit of stats jargon in the book, so a reader who is not familiar might have some difficulty. If you're at a point where learning HLM is a logical next step, you'll be fine and I recommend this book. However, if your over-eager faculty advisor told you to learn HLM, despite your minimal experience in stats, you're better off enrolling in a class or workshop.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars If you want to learn HLM, this book will not help you., February 7, 2010

By 

Nubia Molina De Alfar "Mr Botch" - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hierarchical Linear Models: Applications and Data Analysis Methods (Advanced Quantitative Techniques in the Social Sciences) (Hardcover)

The book is not bad. But need so much improvement. I send a letter to the authors with my comments.
For example:

A basic topic such as "assumptions" is not clear presented. You have to "discover" them on your reading.

You will find things like "as we can see this will create a problem" ok. but what kind of problem, why are these a problem?

I got the book, and for each chapter I read, I had to go online to look for additional information, and clarifications.

It is clear that the authors are experts and the topic, and things are "so clear and obvious" for them, but the people that is reading the book might have problem following it.

Conclusion. After 2 weeks I decided to return the NEW book and get a USED one.

I also got the "manual" for the HLM6 software, dont bother. It is not a good manual. Actually, it is not a manual because it does not teach you how to use the software, it does not explain its different options, it just show you some examples. You can find similar things online. I returned the manual as well.