How to do multilevel HLM analysis with SPSS

SPSS is not very HLM friendly. It has the stats, but it's not very intuitive and plotting things to see the results isn't straightforward. Still, it's possible.

(can find more resources in the forum discussion here)

Been struggling with this at the beginning, but these guides really helped :

• A Primer on Multilevel Modeling Andrew F. Hayes
• Multilevel Analysis for Applied Research: It's Just Regression!
• This is the first clear tutorial that got me started - Estimating Multilevel Models using SPSS, Stata, SAS, and R, see the SPSS section.
• Linear Mixed-Effects Modeling in SPSS: An Introduction to the MIXED Procedure
• If you prefer it academic style, here's an academic paper on the SPSS mixed method procedure for multi-level - USING THE SPSS MIXED PROCEDURE TO FIT CROSS-SECTIONAL AND LONGITUDINAL MULTILEVEL MODELS

Need three-level analyses?

• SPSS Code Fragment Three-level multilevel model in SPSS

Need to plot the results? Not very easy, but this should help :

1. How can I graph the predicted values from fixed part of my mixed command?

However, as a first step, you can use the simple two-way regression plots and plug-in the values.

If you're more of a visual person, there are a few videos that can explain a bit about the SPSS Mixed function, but those videos are all about repeated measures (two or more item periods), but the idea for other cross-sectional multi-level is pretty similar.

Other very useful videos:

• How to use the mixed model procedure in SPSS (also see this very useful page)