(sponsored by the Educational Statisticians, SIG) Multilevel Modeling of Educational Data, co-edited by Ann A. O’Connell, Ed.D., and D. Betsy McCoach, Ph.D., is the next volume in the series: Quantitative Methods in Education and the Behavioral Sciences: Issues, Research and Teaching (Information Age Publishing), sponsored by the Educational Statisticians' Special Interest Group (Ed-Stat SIG) of the American Educational Research Association. The use of multilevel analyses to examine effects of groups or contexts on individual outcomes has burgeoned over the past few decades. Multilevel modeling techniques allow educational researchers to more appropriately model data that occur within multiple hierarchies (i.e.- the classroom, the school, and/or the district). Examples of multilevel research problems involving schools include establishing trajectories of academic achievement for children within diverse classrooms or schools or studying school-level characteristics on the incidence of bullying. Multilevel models provide an improvement over traditional single-level approaches to working with clustered or hierarchical data; however, multilevel data present complex and interesting methodological challenges for the applied education research community. In keeping with the pedagogical focus for this book series, the papers this volume emphasize applications of multilevel models using educational data, with chapter topics ranging from basic to advanced. This book represents a comprehensive and instructional resource text on multilevel modeling for quantitative researchers who plan to use multilevel techniques in their work, as well as for professors and students of quantitative methods courses focusing on multilevel analysis. Through the contributions of experienced researchers and teachers of multilevel modeling, this volume provides an accessible and practical treatment of methods appropriate for use in a first and/or second course in multilevel analysis. A supporting website links chapter examples to actual data, creating an opportunity for readers to reinforce their knowledge through hands-on data analysis. This book serves as a guide for designing multilevel studies and applying multilevel modeling techniques in educational and behavioral research, thus contributing to a better understanding of and solution for the challenges posed by multilevel systems and data.

With contributions from some of the top academics and scientists in the field, Advanced Studies in Multi-Criteria Decision Making presents an updated view of the landscape of Decision Sciences, current research topics, the interaction with other sciences and fields, as well as the prospects and challenges at an international level. Given that Decision Sciences are recognized today as indispensable for confronting the major societal challenges in science and technology, this book would be of interest to decision-makers, managers, and researchers from academia, and industrial/services companies that would like a fresh insight into MCDM. Features Integrates a wide range of scientific fields with a general reader approach, including applied researchers from the social, business, enterprise sciences Suitable for academics and professionals Presents a broad coverage of MCDM tools either in industry or in services companies and systems Provides a fresh overview on MCDM studies promoted by prestigious R&D institutions

Important policy problems rarely fit neatly within existing territorial boundaries. More difficult still, individual governments or government departments rarely enjoy the power, resources and governance structures required to respond effectively to policy challenges under their responsibility. These dilemmas impose the requirement to work with others from the public, private, non-governmental organisation (NGO) or community spheres, and across a range of administrative levels and sectors. But how? This book investigates the challenges—both conceptual and practical—of multi-level governance processes. It draws on a range of cases from Australian public policy, with comparisons to multi-level governance systems abroad, to understand factors behind the effective coordination and management of multi-level governance processes in different policy areas over the short and longer term. Issues such as accountability, politics and cultures of governance are investigated through policy areas including social, environmental and spatial planning policy. The authors of the volume are a range of academics and past public servants from different jurisdictions, which allows previously hidden stories and processes of multi-level governance in Australia across different periods of government to be revealed and analysed for the first time.

This report assesses the extent to which Croatia’s multi-level governance system is supporting its regional development objectives. In particular, it provides an overview of the country’s regional development performance on several demographic, economic and well-being indicators. From there, it considers how the regional development reforms adopted since 2014 affect the ability of national and subnational governments to design, implement, fund, monitor and evaluate place-based regional development plans.

This book provides a comprehensive framework for analysing, comparing and promoting territorial governance in policy relevant research. It reveals in-depth considerations of the emergence, state-of-the art and evolution of the concept of territorial governance. A unique series of ten case studies across Europe, from neighbourhood planning in North Shields in the North East of England to climate change adaptation in the Baltic Sea Region, provides far-reaching insights into a number of key elements of territorial governance. The book draws generalised empirically-based conclusions and discusses modes of transferability of ‘good practices’. A number of suggestions are presented as to how the main findings from this book can inform theories of territorial governance and spatial policy and planning. Territorial Governance across Europe will be of considerable interest to scholars around the world who are concerned with European studies, regional policy, urban and regional planning, and human and political geography. It provides a solid debate on discourses, theories, concepts and methods around the notion of territorial governance as well as a number of empirical findings from various contexts across Europe. It specifically targets scholars involved in policy-relevant research.