» Data Analysis Using Regression and Multilevel/Hierarchical Models

Data Analysis Using Regression and Multilevel/Hierarchical Models Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: An excellent presentation of hierarchical models
Comment: I am reading this book for two reasons: improving my understanding of some statistical issues and becoming more proficient with modern statistical techniques. The book has been helpful on both fronts, often providing new (to me) points of view for looking at a problem and giving very accessible entry points to more advanced techniques. I have enjoyed very much reading the book and am looking forward to the opportunity to test some of the techniques.

In my opinion, the authors have chosen a good set of examples and have managed to keep me hooked on them. Initially I was a bit reluctant to buy a 'statistics for social sciences' type of book (I come from natural resources/genetics), but the material can be easily transferred to other settings.

The book requires some previous knowledge of statistics (it is no 'linear models for dummies'), targeting readers that already have some experience working with linear regression. Some previous experience with hierarchical models would not hurt either.

Concerning the use of R as the statistical language for the book I think it is a great choice. R is becoming the lingua franca of statistical computing, it is free and the authors do a good job at introducing the language. Even if you are using other language (SAS or SPSS for example) the book will still provide good theoretical explanations and useful comments on data analysis.

I have seen some comments on typos, I have seen some, but are not that egregious as to distract from reading the book.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: very broad coverage of data analysis with hierarchical models
Comment: Andrew Gelman is a top researcher in Bayesian statistics as well as an excellent writer. He has written an excellent text on Bayesian data analysis that uses the Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods for dealing with hierarchical linear models. This book starts out on an introductory level covering a wide variety of statistical modeling problems including logistic regression and multilevel logistic regression, generalized linear models and causal inference. The MCMC methods are taught using BUGS and R. This book is not exclusively Bayesian as both likelihood and Bayesian procedures are presented. The topics are general but the emphasis is on social science applications. It is very comprehensive and has received enthusiastic reviews from well known statisticians including Dick Deveaux, Brad Carlin and Jeff Gill. Jeff's review is here on amazon. Jeff is a colleague of mine and he has written one of the finest introductory texts on Bayesian methods including the hierarchical models. His text is now out in its second edition. Jeff also wrote his book with the social scientists in mind.

Jeff's review has been the most looked at and voted the most helpful on this site. As this topic is a specialty area for him more than it is for me, I recommend that if you are interested in the material in this book that his review is very much worth reading.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Easy to read
Comment: This book is full of examples and very well written, contains everything one needs for deep insight into multi level analysis

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Readable and informative
Comment: A great book for addressing how to work with data on multiple levels. It is both accessible and useful!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A great achievement!
Comment: Andrew Gelman has written an excellent book about regression models, with examples solved in the R language. He provides enlightning views of even complex subjects, such as mixed-effects models. A reader not familiar with R, should probably acquire some knowledge of R before he/she can fully benefit from the book, but this in itself is a worthwhile investment. (R is freely available; see [...]). Although it is an introductory book, the author manages to convey valuable new insights to more advanced readers. This is a book that after you read it once you will pick up time and again to enjoy the presentation of the topics and to benefit your own work. Highly recommended, in particular to those getting started with R (or Splus for that matter).

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