HLM how to

[Arlin Cuncic-2]

Hi everyone,

We have recently purchased HLM 6.0 along with the manual and the book
"Hierarchical Linear Models". I am working my way through these trying to
teach myself the program.  I did take a two-day workshop last year but I'm
afraid that never having used it afterward I lost most of what was taught.
 In any case, I do recall a portion of the workshop that dealt with
centering variables and setting up the dataset properly. I don't see much
of this in the manuals.  I was just wondering if anyone has reference
material that might help me with this.

Thanks,
Arlin

Arlin Cuncic, M.A.
Research and Assessment Associate
Research and Assessment Department
Thames Valley District School Board
1250 Dundas St.
London, ON N5W 5P2
519-452-2000 ext. 20115
[hidden email]

[Max Jasper]

Take a look at: http://www.unc.edu/~painter/SPSSMixed/SPSSMixedModels.PDF
search for :
hsb12.sav

it contains variable SES and centered CSES usedin Mixed model.

hsb12.sav can be found many place like:
http://www2.stat.lu.se/education/grad/StatMeth/filer.htm

details:

Raudenbush, S. W. Bryk, A. S.  (2002).  Hierarchical linear models:
Applications and data analysis methods. 2nd edition. Newbury Park, CA: Sage



|
|We have recently purchased HLM 6.0 along with the manual and
|the book "Hierarchical Linear Models". I am working my way
|through these trying to teach myself the program.  I did take
|a two-day workshop last year but I'm afraid that never having
|used it afterward I lost most of what was taught.  In any
|case, I do recall a portion of the workshop that dealt with
|centering variables and setting up the dataset properly. I
|don't see much of this in the manuals.  I was just wondering
|if anyone has reference material that might help me with this.
|

[lts1]

Hi Arlin,

I'm not sure what you're trying to do, but I am somewhat familiar with HLM.
Hopefully, I can clarify a little, but first let me reiterate what Max
Jasper said yesterday.  Get the Painter pdf and go through it.  It is very
helpful in understanding the machinations of multi-level modeling.  That
said, regarding your specific questions:

First is the question of data prep.  The short version is that HLM is not a
data editor, and you must do all prep work in another program (e.g. SPSS).
This would include all variable transformations and computations including
creating same-level interaction terms.  Also, since HLM does not read
ordinal variables, they must be converted to a series of dummy variables.
The bottom line is that the data must be in it's final, usable form with two
exceptions.  You don't need to create cross-level interaction terms (is a
function of multi-level modeling), and data centering (your second
question).

Anytime you enter data in a multi-level model you must select a method of
data centering, no matter what software you're using, and HLM, the program,
forces you to select an option (uncentered, group mean centered, grand mean
centered) when including the variable for entry in the model.  The decision
on which technique to use has to do with your research question. The
following two articles on centering should help explain the options:

Burton, B. (1993). Some observations on the effect of centering on the
results obtained from hierarchical linear modeling. District of Columbia:
U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics.

Hofmann, D. A., & Gavin, M. B. (1998). Centering decisions in hierarchical
linear models: Implications for research in organizations. Journal of
Management, 24, 623-641.

Also, one last thing.  You said you purchased v. 6.0.  Please check the
version carefully.  If you're not on v. 6.02 or higher, you'll need to
download the update.  Version 6.0 has a bug that doesn't read SPSS files, so
if you use it, you'll need to export your data to a different format before
reading it into HLM.

I hope this helps.

    Best,
        Lisa

Lisa T. Stickney
Ph.D. Candidate
The Fox School of Business
     and Management
Temple University
[hidden email]



----- Original Message -----
From: "Arlin Cuncic" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Monday, June 18, 2007 8:24 AM
Subject: HLM how to

> Hi everyone,
>
> We have recently purchased HLM 6.0 along with the manual and the book
> "Hierarchical Linear Models". I am working my way through these trying to
> teach myself the program.  I did take a two-day workshop last year but I'm
> afraid that never having used it afterward I lost most of what was taught.
> In any case, I do recall a portion of the workshop that dealt with
> centering variables and setting up the dataset properly. I don't see much
> of this in the manuals.  I was just wondering if anyone has reference
> material that might help me with this.
>
> Thanks,
> Arlin
>
> Arlin Cuncic, M.A.
> Research and Assessment Associate
> Research and Assessment Department
> Thames Valley District School Board
> 1250 Dundas St.
> London, ON N5W 5P2
> 519-452-2000 ext. 20115
> [hidden email]
>

[Arlin Cuncic-2]

Thanks for the advice, I think looking at the SPSS example files is going
to get me pointed in the right direction.

Best regards,
Arlin

Arlin Cuncic, M.A.
Research and Assessment Associate
Research and Assessment Department
Thames Valley District School Board
1250 Dundas St.
London, ON N5W 5P2
519-452-2000 ext. 20115
[hidden email]