In a series of publications, the author and his colleagues have obtained scores from students in higher education on different questionnaires, and they have described the relationships among these scores using the statistic known as Wilks' [lambda]. Burt (2005) has criticized that the use of this measure is inappropriate, arguing (1) that the…

Describes the appropriate control of experiment-wise error rates and the researcher's role in making decisions to control for Type 1 errors. Issues related to level of significance, one- versus two-tailed tests, and the use of multivariate statistics are included. (Author/CT)

Multilevel models used to assess and compare school effectiveness, particularly their application to multivariate data, are critiqued. Problems associated with standard errors of measurement and the various components of "school effect" are highlighted in terms of how they could affect incautious application of the models. (TJH)