Dear MLM SIG #140 members,

We hope you are having a wonderful summer so far and are grateful that you decided to be part of the MLM SIG in 2024. It's hard to believe, but our SIG will be 21 years old by our next conference! Below are some highlights around areas of focus for submitting proposals to the SIG for the upcoming conference, along with a couple of agenda items regarding SIG business. We'll definitely be in touch with more updates and announcements via email as well as posts to our "News" section as the year ahead unfolds, and wish you all the best as you gear up for the fall. 

# 2025 Conference Proposals due Aug 2 #

Proposals for the upcoming AERA 2025 conference in Denver are due by Aug 2. As always, we aim to host inspiring and informative sessions (the number we are allotted depends on our submission totals), and that means we need you to consider submitting your work, and to also let other MLM researchers in your circle who may not be part of our SIG that we are keen to learn from them. To help everyone consider submitting a proposal to our SIG, we've prepared some guidelines/suggestions below.

## 1) Data Analysis Strategies for Multilevel DATA ##
Although our SIG is named multilevel modeling (traditionally, this involves treating clustering as a random factor in a model), for our sessions this year we want to expand our SIG content to include the many kinds of strategies for analyzing *multilevel data*. To be clear, clustered data can include cross-sectional designs in which individual units were sampled from one or more sets of clusters, as well as repeated measures designs (experimental as well as longitudinal). As always, certain analysis or estimation strategies inevitably work better or worse under differing conditions, such as varying sample sizes (e.g., cluster size/number of clusters or highly intensive repeated measures time-series data), different types of clustering structures, low vs. high ICC levels, measurement error considerations, types of measurement scales involved, convergence/time requirements, and sampling weights. As well, other facets of interest could include data pre-processing (e.g., imputation methods) and cross-validation approaches, just to name a few ideas. If you are studying any of these types of ideas, we want to know more!

## 2) Focus on METHODOLOGY ##
This year we are going to be solely focused on *methodological* that involve either: (a) the introduction and/or demonstration of a novel analysis model/approach/estimation/software package for clustered data, or (b) the comparison of two or more approaches/models/estimation procedures/software packages for analyzing clustered data (involving some type of novel contribution). While studies can and often do include applied analyses, those applied analyses should be for methodological illustrative or inspirational purposes. (Studies focused on the substantive results of a single dataset would not be a fit with this SIG; we encourage those proposals to seek entry into SIGs focused on education content areas. Please reach out directly to our SIG leadership if you are not sure if your proposal is a fit with our SIG before you submit.)

## 3) PRELIMINARY Results ##
Note that proposals do not need to have all simulation/application results complete for the proposal stage, but they must have *preliminary/pilot analysis results* reported, per AERA review guidelines (we do expect full results reported by the conference).

## 4) PAPER Sessions Preferred ##
Realizing that poster sessions and roundtables are less well attended, we'd like to encourage everyone to submit with a *paper* proposal intention this year (with second and third options listed for roundtable and poster when given the choice). We realize paper sessions can feel a bit daunting for younger scholars, so the SIG leadership will be happy to help presenters practice their talks via zoom to help prepare and overcome presentation nervousness.

## 5) SIG Members and Non-Members Invited ##
Both MLM SIG *members and non-members* are encouraged to submit so long as the proposal fits within the ideas described above. So, members, please reach out to other MLM scholars you may know who could be interested in presenting their work but who may not be aware of our MLM SIG. 

# SIG Member Business #

## 1) Merging / morphing our SIG into a 'Quant' SIG ##
Although multilevel modeling (MLM) took shape in the statistical literature in the 1960s and 1970s, MLM as a methodological focus truly gained momentum in the late 1990s and early 2000s with major advances in computing; it was around this time, in 2004, that our SIG was born. MLM today, in the 2020s, is no longer novel -- it is now a common tool that graduate students learn during their studies -- but yet it represents only one approach to analyzing multilevel data structures. In addition, random effects approaches are now integrated with other quantitative methods, most notably structural equation modeling. Separately, we often find ourselves competing unnecessarily with other quantitative methods SIGs for annual conference session timeslots and leadership positions. As such, we raised the idea last year about merging our MLM SIG with other quant-oriented AERA SIGs, and potentially changing the name of the merged SIG to something more encompassing, like 'Quant Methods'. Of course, another idea is simply to change our name a bit from MLM to something broader. These ideas were positively received at the MLM SIG business meeting, and other SIG leaders were also cautiously optimistic. The advantage of a merger (compared to a simple name change) would include: 1) increasing the number of sessions allotted to us as a whole; 2) reducing session overlap with other quant SIGs, including business meetings, thereby improving session attendance; 3) facilitating greater SIG involvement and volunteerism; and 4) collectively reducing annual SIG costs. This said, people have raised a few concerns about how such a merger would work in terms of content and session operationalization for the annual conference. We will post a separate email to SIG members about this later in August, and host at least one zoom discussion prior to any formal vote on the matter. Importantly, we will not vote on or enact any merger that would affect the 2025 conference negatively.

## 2) SIG Awards ##
We are currently approved for one SIG award: the Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Award. For the year ahead, we'd like to see if we can introduce one more award for contributions to the MLM (methodological) field. Again, please stay tuned!

## 3) Send us Your Ideas! ##
Please feel free to reach out to any of us in the SIG leadership to share your ideas (contact info below). We would especially love to hear your thoughts about how we can make the upcoming 2025 conference the best it can be for our members, such as potential venues for a social gathering and a keynote speaker.  We also welcome job postings and other announcements related to MLM that we can help disseminate.

Best regards,
Liz Sanders, UW Seattle, WA (2025 Chair), email: lizz@uw.edu
Yan Wang, UMASS Lowell, MA (2025 Co-Chair), email: yan_wang1@uml.edu
Chi-Ning (Nick) Chang, VCU, Richmond, VA (2025 Treasurer), email: changc10@vcu.edu