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mean and variance of random effects in glmer

5 messages · Ken Kelley, ONKELINX, Thierry, Jake Westfall

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Dear Ken,

Very large variance for the random effect in a binomial glmer is an indication for (quasi-)complete separation. Here is some info on that issue: http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/mult_pkg/faq/general/complete_separation_logit_models.htm

If the values of Problem and Across are constant within each level of PID, I would aggregate the data (sum per PID) and then use a simple glm()

Best regards,

Thierry

ir. Thierry Onkelinx
Instituut voor natuur- en bosonderzoek / Research Institute for Nature and Forest
team Biometrie & Kwaliteitszorg / team Biometrics & Quality Assurance
Kliniekstraat 25
1070 Anderlecht
Belgium
+ 32 2 525 02 51
+ 32 54 43 61 85
Thierry.Onkelinx at inbo.be
www.inbo.be

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~ Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher

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-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: r-sig-mixed-models-bounces at r-project.org [mailto:r-sig-mixed-models-bounces at r-project.org] Namens Ken Kelley
Verzonden: dinsdag 24 juli 2012 8:29
Aan: r-sig-mixed-models at r-project.org
Onderwerp: [R-sig-ME] mean and variance of random effects in glmer

Hi everyone,

I'm fitting a straightforward glmer model with the family=binomial. I expected the mean of the random effect for the intercept to be near zero, but that isn't the case, as the mean is .91:
Generalized linear mixed model fit by the adaptive Gaussian Hermite approximation
Formula: TA ~ 1 + Problem + Across + (1 | PID)
   Data: Data.Timed
   AIC   BIC logLik deviance
 158.8 172.9 -75.38    150.8
Random effects:
 Groups Name        Variance Std.Dev.
 PID    (Intercept) 18.869   4.3439
Number of obs: 256, groups: PID, 64

Fixed effects:
            Estimate Std. Error z value Pr(>|z|)
(Intercept)  -1.1328     0.7304  -1.551   0.1209
Problem      -0.5864     0.2449  -2.394   0.0167 *
Across       -1.3768     0.4280  -3.217   0.0013 **
---
Signif. codes:  0 '***' 0.001 '**' 0.01 '*' 0.05 '.' 0.1 ' ' 1

Correlation of Fixed Effects:
        (Intr) Problm
Problem -0.390
Across  -0.208 -0.150

 That is, I'm doing a mixed effects logistic regression. The PID is the participant ID; there are 4 Problems (essentially timepoints: 0, 1, 2, 3) and Across is a time-varying covariate (0, 1, 2, or 3).

The mean of the random effects is:
(Intercept)
  0.9137307

Additionally, the variance of the random effect is in the model output as 18.869, yet when I calculate the variance of the random effects directly, I get a much smaller value:
(Intercept)
(Intercept)    7.806402

Should I be surprised by either of the issues I note above? My concern is that I was planning on plotting the model implied curves using the fixed effects (so that the curves would represent an individual specific trajectory for a participant with a random effect of 0). Yet, there are no individuals with a random effect of zero and the mean is not zero. Thus, such a plot doesn't seem as useful as I initially thought it would.

Thanks for any thoughts on this,
Ken




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#
Hi Thierry,

Thanks for your thoughts on this. I hadn't considered quasi-separation, but I don't think that is it. Actually, the issue is that I slipped into thinking that the random effects were the conditional means (like in a linear mixed effects model). Rather, they are the conditional modes. Thus, the mean of the random effects need not be zero as I initially expected (and as would be the case in a linear mixed effects model). 

But, I still expected the variance of the random effects to match the output (it is 18.9 in the output yet 7.8 when I calculate it on the random effects directly). 

Best wishes,
Ken
On Jul 24, 2012, at 5:23 AM, "ONKELINX, Thierry" <Thierry.ONKELINX at inbo.be> wrote:

            
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Don't assume that there is not quasi-separation, but rather check it to be sure that it is not there. I'm pretty sure that it is a case of complete separation. Deal with that first.
________________________________________
Van: Ken Kelley [kkelley at nd.edu]
Verzonden: dinsdag 24 juli 2012 20:38
Aan: ONKELINX, Thierry
CC: r-sig-mixed-models at r-project.org
Onderwerp: Re: mean and variance of random effects in glmer

Hi Thierry,

Thanks for your thoughts on this. I hadn't considered quasi-separation, but I don't think that is it. Actually, the issue is that I slipped into thinking that the random effects were the conditional means (like in a linear mixed effects model). Rather, they are the conditional modes. Thus, the mean of the random effects need not be zero as I initially expected (and as would be the case in a linear mixed effects model).

But, I still expected the variance of the random effects to match the output (it is 18.9 in the output yet 7.8 when I calculate it on the random effects directly).

Best wishes,
Ken
On Jul 24, 2012, at 5:23 AM, "ONKELINX, Thierry" <Thierry.ONKELINX at inbo.be> wrote:

            
* * * * * * * * * * * * * D I S C L A I M E R * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Dit bericht en eventuele bijlagen geven enkel de visie van de schrijver weer en binden het INBO onder geen enkel beding, zolang dit bericht niet bevestigd is door een geldig ondertekend document.
The views expressed in this message and any annex are purely those of the writer and may not be regarded as stating an official position of INBO, as long as the message is not confirmed by a duly signed document.