Multilevel analysis: contributions to studies investigating the effects of social context on individual behavior

• Autor(a) principal: PUENTE-PALACIOS, Katia Elizabeth
• Data de Publicação: 2009
• Outros Autores: LAROS, Jacob Arie
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Estudos de Psicologia (Campinas)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.puc-campinas.edu.br/estpsi/article/view/7081
• topic: Comportamento; Comportamento social; Modelos multinível; Behavior; Social behavior; Multilevel models

The recognition of the influence of social context on human behavior emphasizes the need for models that allow for the identification of this effect. The theoretical and technical characteristics of multilevel models are presented here, since they satisfy this requirement.From a theoretical perspective, it is worthwhile highlighting that the choice of a multilevel model should be founded, as much as possible, on a multilevel theory that points to the predictive role of variables originating from different levels. The construction ofmultilevel models guided by theory will result in more fruitful models with higher external validity in comparison with models built with little or no theoretical foundations. From a technical perspective, it may be stated that multilevel analysis shows a high degree of similarity with traditional linear regression including many of its presuppositions. This study enables us to conclude that multilevel analysis is an appropriate tool for researchers interested in the identification of the effects of social context on human behavior.