Models for reality: New approaches to the understanding of educational processes (Inaugural Professorial Lecture) - Tapa blanda

Much of the dissatisfaction with existing quantitative explanations in education and the social sciences arises from an over-simplification of real life. Professor Goldstein argues that in recent years new quantitative methodologies have been developed that provide powerful tools for studying social structures and processes. These ‘multilevel’ models, which attempt to describe the complexity of the real world, have begun to yield important research insights and to provide a rational basis for the critique of certain contemporary educational policies. In this lecture Professor Goldstein describes the essential features and potentialities of these procedures in a non-technical fashion.

At the time of publication, Harvey Goldstein was Professor of Statistical Methods at the Institute of Education, University of London.