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Linear Mixed-Effects Models

Linear mixed-effects models are extensions of linear regression models for data that are collected and summarized in groups. These models describe the relationship between a response variable and independent variables, with coefficients that can vary with respect to one or more grouping variables. A mixed-effects model consists of two parts, fixed effects and random effects. Fixed-effects terms are usually the conventional linear regression part, and the random effects are associated with individual experimental units drawn at random from a population. The random effects have prior distributions whereas fixed effects do not. Mixed-effects models can represent the covariance structure related to the grouping of data by associating the common random effects to observations that have the same level of a grouping variable. The standard form of a linear mixed-effects model is

y=Xβfixed+Zbrandom+εerror,

where

  • y is the n-by-1 response vector, and n is the number of observations.

  • X is an n-by-p fixed-effects design matrix.

  • β is a p-by-1 fixed-effects vector.

  • Z is an n-by-q random-effects design matrix.

  • b is a q-by-1 random-effects vector.

  • ε is the n-by-1 observation error vector.

The assumptions for the linear mixed-effects model are:

  • Random-effects vector, b, and the error vector, ε, have the following prior distributions:

    b~N(0,σ2D(θ)),ε~N(0,σI2),

    where D is a symmetric and positive semidefinite matrix, parameterized by a variance component vector θ, I is an n-by-n identity matrix, and σ2 is the error variance.

  • Random-effects vector, b, and the error vector, ε, are independent from each other.

Mixed-effects models are also called multilevel models or hierarchical models depending on the context. Mixed-effects models is a more general term than the latter two. Mixed-effects models might include factors that are not necessarily multilevel or hierarchical, for example crossed factors. That is why mixed-effects is the terminology preferred here. Sometimes mixed-effects models are expressed as multilevel regression models (first level and grouping level models) that are fit simultaneously. For example, a varying or random intercept model, with one continuous predictor variable x and one grouping variable with M levels, can be expressed as

yim=β0m+β1xim+εim,i=1,2,..,n,m=1,2,...,M,εim~N(0,σ2),β0m=β00+b0m,b0m~N(0,σ02),

where yim corresponds to data for observation i and group m, n is the total number of observations, and b0m and εim are independent of each other. After substituting the group-level parameters in the first-level model, the model for the response vector becomes

yim=β00+β1ximfixedeffects+b0mrandomeffects+εim.

A random intercept and slope model with one continuous predictor variable x, where both the intercept and slope vary independently by a grouping variable with M levels is

yim=β0m+β1mxim+εim,i=1,2,...,n,m=1,2,...,M,εim~N(0,σ2),β0m=β00+b0m,b0m~N(0,σ02),β1m=β10+b1m,b1m~N(0,σ12),

or

bm=(b0mb1m)~N(0,(σ0200σ12)).

You might also have correlated random effects. In general, for a model with a random intercept and slope, the distribution of the random effects is

bm=(b0mb1m)~N(0,σD2(θ)),

where D is a 2-by-2 symmetric and positive semidefinite matrix, parameterized by a variance component vector θ.

After substituting the group-level parameters in the first-level model, the model for the response vector is

yim=β00+β10ximfixedeffects+b0m+b1mximrandomeffects+εim,i=1,2,...,n,m=1,2,...,M.

If you express the group-level variable, xim, in the random-effects term by zim, this model is

yim=β00+β10ximfixedeffects+b0m+b1mzimrandomeffects+εim,i=1,2,...,n,m=1,2,...,M.

In this case, the same terms appear in both the fixed-effects design matrix and random-effects design matrix. Each zim and xim correspond to the level m of the grouping variable.

It is also possible to explain more of the group-level variations by adding more group-level predictor variables. A random-intercept and random-slope model with one continuous predictor variable x, where both the intercept and slope vary independently by a grouping variable with M levels, and one group-level predictor variable vm is

yim=β0im+β1imxim+εim,i=1,2,...,n,m=1,2,...,M,εim~N(0,σ2),β0im=β00+β01vim+b0m,b0m~N(0,σ02),β1im=β10+β11vim+b1m,b1m~N(0,σ12).

This model results in main effects of the group-level predictor and an interaction term between the first-level and group-level predictor variables in the model for the response variable as

yim=β00+β01vim+b0m+(β10+β11vim+b1m)xim+εim,i=1,2,...,n,m=1,2,...,M,=β00+β10xim+β01vim+β11vimximfixedeffects+b0m+b1mximrandomeffects+εim.

The term β11vmxim is often called a cross-level interaction in many textbooks on multilevel models. The model for the response variable y can be expressed as

yim=[1x1imvimvimx1im][β00β10β01β11]+[1x1im][b0mb1m]+εim,i=1,2,...,n,m=1,2,...,M,

which corresponds to the standard form given earlier,

y=Xβ+Zb+ε.

In general, if there are R grouping variables, and m(r,i) shows the level of grouping variable r, for observation i, then the model for the response variable for observation i is

yi=xiTβ+r=1Rzirbm(r,i)(r)+εi,i=1,2,...,n,

where β is a p-by-1 fixed-effects vector, b(r)m(r,i) is a q(r)-by-1 random-effects vector for the rth grouping variable and level m(r,i), and εi is a 1-by-1 error term for observation i.

References

[1] Pinherio, J. C., and D. M. Bates. Mixed-Effects Models in S and S-PLUS. Statistics and Computing Series, Springer, 2004.

[2] Hariharan, S. and J. H. Rogers. “Estimation Procedures for Hierarchical Linear Models.” Multilevel Modeling of Educational Data (A. A. Connell and D. B. McCoach, eds.). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc., 2008.

[3] Hox, J. Multilevel Analysis, Techniques and Applications. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 2002

[4] Snidjers, T. and R. Bosker. Multilevel Analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1999.

[5] Gelman, A. and J. Hill. Data Analysis Using Regression and Multilevel/Hierarchical Models. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

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