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Frequently Asked Questions about MLwiN
Can you suggest naming schemes for variables?

In MLwiN you may create a number of variables that are similar, but different. For example, say that you have a variable called iq and your data is at 2 levels, student level and school level.  Here is a suggested naming scheme for your variables at level 1 and level 2.

• Level 1
  IQ - Original Variable
  IQGrpCen - Center "iq" about the group mean (i.e. each students "iq" score minus the mean "iq" for the student's school)
  IQGrdCen - Center "iq" about the grand mean of IQ (i.e. each students "iq" score minus the grand mean of  "iq")
• Level 2
  MeanIQ - No centering (just take the mean of "iq" for each group)
  MeanIQGrdCen - Center "iq" about the grand mean (like above) and then take the mean of that variable for each group).

It is possible that you might have all 5 versions of this variable in one data file.  By choosing a consistent naming scheme, you can differentiate between the different variables.

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