This book provides a brief, easy-to-read guide to implementing hierarchical linear modelling using the three leading software platforms, followed by a set of application articles based on recent work published in leading journals and as part of doctoral dissertations. The "guide" portion consists of three chapters by the editor, covering basic to intermediate use of SPSS, SAS, and HLM for purposes for hierarchical linear modelling, while the "applications" portion consists of a dozen contributions in which the authors emphasize how-to and methodological aspects and show how they have used these techniques in practice.