DailyTution

The approach of fixed effects is compelling in this model. Because the knowledge in this study are multilevel, there is within-state variation at the university-level in those variables of interest on the prediction of neighborhood status on donor behavior. Unlike this study, plenty of empirical models have had to depend on state or national averages, and thus school-specific neighborhood variables would lack within-state variation. As a result, it would not be feasible to assess the within-state, within-year effect of neighborhood variables, as there would be no variation when variables are aggregated to the state level. Analytically, under these circumstances the fixed effects would absorb variation in school variables, as they would be the same for every school in the state. However, given the multilevel structure of the knowledge set employed in this news story, it is feasible to estimate the effect of neighborhoods for each school within a state.