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Specifying random effects in lme()

On Wed, 2007-05-09 at 16:05 +0100, Mike Dunbar wrote:
Hi Mike,

That's one of the things we want to test.

The random effects just take up an extra df or eleven. I have plenty to
spare in the model, with many years data. For the extra 22 df used up,
does the model fit significantly better using AIC/BIC and friends?

I can fit the model in lmer very easily, converges nicely and quickly.
But I wanted to have the AR1 term in there to mop up some of the
residual autocorrelation in the error structure. There is some
indication of autocorrelation in the residuals, and testing models
without the AR term and with the AR show that the model with the AR term
is a big improvement as measured by AIC, BIC and the likelihood ratio
test.

There is some evidence that the effects of the two covariates does
differ amongst sites based on analysis of the model output from the
model with only random intercepts. We'd like to test if the more complex
model fits the data better.

Cheers Mike,

G