In a multilevel modeling design investigating the effects of geographic location, political orientation, and whether respondents attended public or private high schools, on attitudes toward proposed environmental regulations, the observed ICC (i.e., intraclass correlation) was .95. This value suggests that:
A) the researchers can probably assume that people from a given geographic location differed substantially and systematically from those in other locations; therefore, the nesting element of the design should not be ignored
B) the researchers can probably assume that people from a given geographic location did not differ substantially and systematically from those in other location; therefore, they could ignore the nesting element of the design
C) there is considerable error present between at least one predictor and the criterion
D) none of the above

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

An ICC of .95 suggests that there is substantial clustering of attitudes within geographic locations. This means that people within the same geographic location are more similar to each other in their attitudes toward proposed environmental regulations than people in different locations. Therefore, it is important for the researchers to account for the nesting of individuals within geographic locations in their analysis. Ignoring this nesting element could lead to biased results.

In a Multilevel Modeling Design Investigating the Effects of Geographic