HLM/SPSS 14.0 Fix

From Tim Weston:

Not sure if you saw this - HLM 6 stops working when you upgrade to SPSS 14. After banging my head against the wall for a few hours I called them and they sent this "work around."

The problem you have encountered is a shortcoming in the current HLM 6 for Windows, which was released prior to the release of SPSS 14.

HLM 6 for Windows can read SPSS data in one of two ways, namely

1. Using its own code (associated with the Input file type “SPSS for Windows" in the Make MDM dialog box)
2. Using the third-party software STAT/TRANSFER to do so (associated with the file type "Anything Else" in the Make MDM dialog box).

For now, the only solution to using SPSS 14 files in HLM 6 is with a workaround:

1. Make sure that ALL your variable names in your SPSS 14 data files are a maximum of 8 characters.
2. In the Make MDM dialog box, select the "Anything Else" option from the "Input File Type" dropdown list box.
3. Click on the "Browse" button of the level 1 file specification section to load the "Open" dialog box.
4. Select the "SPSS data file" from the "Files of type" dropdown list box.
5. Browse for your level 1 SPSS data file.
6. Select your file and the select your level 1 variables.
7. Repeat steps 2-5 for the other levels of the model.