[R-meta] Multi-informant multi-level meta-analysis
Dear Ross, Please see my responses below. Best, Wolfgang
-----Original Message----- From: R-sig-meta-analysis <r-sig-meta-analysis-bounces at r-project.org> On Behalf Of Ross Neville via R-sig-meta-analysis Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2024 07:24 To: r-sig-meta-analysis at r-project.org Cc: Ross Neville <ross.neville at ucd.ie> Subject: [R-meta] Multi-informant multi-level meta-analysis Dear Professor Viechtbauer I'm conducting a meta-analysis where I have a nested data structure. Each StudyID has an EstimateID for the control (EstimateID=1) and intervention (EstimateID=2) arms. Each arm also has multiple informants. The variable InformantID identifies whether the EstimateID reflects data reported by teachers or parents. Would the following random effect accurately capture that nested structure: random = list(~ 1 | StudyID/EstimateID/InformantID)
Yes, this does look reasonable based on your description. You can also run robust(<model>, clubSandwich=TRUE) to see if the the model-based SEs are similar to those from robust variance estimation. This can serve as a *rough* check for model misspecification.
The resulting random effects seem to align with what one would want to know: estim sqrt nlvls fixed factor sigma^2.1 8.6938 2.9485 40 no StudyID sigma^2.2 7.1745 2.6785 78 no StudyID/EstimateID sigma^2.3 2.8651 1.6927 92 no StudyID/EstimateID/InformantID My interpretation of the above table is that: - sigma^2.1 represents the between study variables - sigma^2.2 represents the between estimate (i.e., between condition) variability within studies - sigma^2.3 represents the between informant (i.e., teacher vs parent) variability within each condition within studies. Does this interpretation sound correct to you?
Yes, that is correct.
Appreciate any feedback or guidance you can provide. Regards Ross -- Dr Ross D. Neville, PhD, ProfCert University Teaching and Learning Head of Subject - Sport Management School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sport Science University College Dublin (UCD) Room G6 - Woodview House Belfield, Dublin 4 ross.neville at ucd.ie +353 (0) 1 716 3419