Thanks for your reply, Thomas.

Yes, this is NCES data.

There are no negative or missing weights.

I am not a programmer and so I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean by
not being able to have blank cells in a data.frame object -  What I mean
specifically is that in the csv file which I imported into R to create the
dataset (using read.csv) there were blank cells for any missing data.  This
has never given me problems with R in the past using glm or related
functions.

Traceback gives the following:
3: glm.fit(XX, YY, weights = wi/sum(wi), start = beta0, offset = offs,
       family = fam, control = contrl, intercept = incpt)
2: svyglm.svyrep.design(model, design = surveydatastructure, family =
quasibinomial())
1: svyglm(model, design = surveydatastructure, family = quasibinomial())

As for the model: I need to run this code on a number of different models.
 By playing around with this a lot, I have found that I get the error if I
include one particular variable (HSCRDANY) in the model.  I have checked
all the values for that variable, and there are only three: "yes", "no" and
empty cells for missing data (or however one correctly phrases that for a
dataframe in R).  Another variable, HSGPA, which has empty cells for all
the same individuals, and which is also a categorical variable, does not
have this problem.

So, for example, this model works fine:
DISTEDUC~1+RACE+GENDER+RISKINDX+GPA+REMEVER+HSGPA+PELLAMT+FEDBEND+CAGI+PAREDUC+PRIMLANG+CITIZEN2


But this model returns the error message listed above:
DISTEDUC~1+RACE+GENDER+RISKINDX+GPA+REMEVER+HSGPA*+HSCRDANY*
+PELLAMT+FEDBEND+CAGI+PAREDUC+PRIMLANG+CITIZEN2

I don't understand what it is about the specific variable HSCRDANY which
would prompt this error message?  I'm not sure what else to look for to try
to figure out what the issue with this particular variable may be?

Thanks again for your time!





On Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 1:05 PM, Thomas Lumley <tlumley@uw.edu> wrote:

> This is some sort of NCES data, right?
>
> I can't see any way to get that particular error (which happens inside
> glm.fit()) for a logistic model.
>   Are there any negative or missing weights?
>   What do you mean 'represented by blank cells' -- you can't have blank
> cells in a data.frame object?
>   What does traceback() give after the error?
>   What is the model?
>
>    -thomas
>
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 10, 2014 at 4:10 PM, Claire Wladis <cwladis@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>> I am using the survey package for the first time to analyze a dataset that
>> has both weights and 200 BRR replication weights.  When I try to run
>> svyglm
>> on the output from svrepdesign, I get an error message that I do not know
>> how to interpret, and an extended period of time searching for this error
>> on the web hasn't returned any results that seem relevant to my situation.
>>  I have no idea how to proceed with my analysis at this point, so I am
>> hoping that someone with more experience with this package and with R in
>> general would be willing to help me figure out what the problem is.
>>
>> Here is my code:
>> surveydatastructure <- svrepdesign(repweights=dataset[, 29:228] ,
>> data=dataset, weights=dataset$WTA000)
>>
>> modeloutput <- svyglm(model, design=surveydatastructure,
>> family=quasibinomial() )
>>
>> The model is defined in an earlier line of code, but for the sake of
>> readability here, I have not included it.  The dataset has a binary
>> dependent variable and a combination of categorical and continuous
>> variables as dependent variables.  There is missing data in the dataset,
>> represented by blank "cells" in the data frame.  The data itself is
>> restricted but I can describe any part of it as necessary.
>>
>>
>> Here is the error message that R returns when I enter the svyglm function
>> line of code:
>>
>> Error in if (!(validmu(mu) && valideta(eta))) stop("cannot find valid
>> starting values: please specify some",  :  missing value where TRUE/FALSE
>> needed
>>
>> Thanks for reading my post, and thanks in advance for any help!
>> Sincerely,
>> Claire
>>
>>         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>>
>> ______________________________________________
>> R-help@r-project.org mailing list
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
>> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Thomas Lumley
> Professor of Biostatistics
> University of Auckland
>

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