Hierarchical and Mixed Effects Models in R

Course Description

This course begins by reviewing slopes and intercepts in linear regressions before moving on to random-effects. You’ll learn what a random effect is and how to use one to model your data. Next, the course covers linear mixed-effect regressions. These powerful models will allow you to explore data with a more complicated structure than a standard linear regression. The course then teaches generalized linear mixed-effect regressions. Generalized linear mixed-effects models allow you to model more kinds of data, including binary responses and count data. Lastly, the course goes over repeated-measures analysis as a special case of mixed-effect modeling. This kind of data appears when subjects are followed over time and measurements are collected at intervals. Throughout the course you’ll work with real data to answer interesting questions using mixed-effects models.

What You’ll Learn

Overview and Introduction to Hierarchical and Mixed Models

The first chapter provides an example of when to use a mixed-effect and also describes the parts of a regression. The chapter also examines a student test-score dataset with a nested structure to demonstrate mixed-effects.

Generalized Linear Mixed Effect Models

This chapter extends linear mixed-effects models to include non-normal error terms using generalized linear mixed-effects models. By altering the model to include a non-normal error term, you are able to model more kinds of data with non-linear responses. After reviewing generalized linear models, the chapter examines binomial data and count data in the context of mixed-effects models.

Linear Mixed Effect Models

This chapter providers an introduction to linear mixed-effects models. It covers different types of random-effects, describes how to understand the results for linear mixed-effects models, and goes over different methods for statistical inference with mixed-effects models using crime data from Maryland.

Repeated Measures

This chapter shows how repeated-measures analysis is a special case of mixed-effect modeling. The chapter begins by reviewing paired t-tests and repeated measures ANOVA. Next, the chapter uses a linear mixed-effect model to examine sleep study data. Lastly, the chapter uses a generalized linear mixed-effect model to examine hate crime data from New York state through time.