[R-meta] robust variance estimation with few clusters

[Filippo Gambarota]

Hi,
I'm approaching the robust variance estimation using clubsandwhich and
following the metafor documentation, however I'm not sure about a point. I
have a dataset with a multilevel structure (independent effects within a
paper). However the number of clusters is low as well as the number of
effects within clusters.

My idea was to fit a standard two-level model ignoring the multilevel
structure (author/id is the paper/effect structure):

```
fit <- rma(yi, vi, data = data)
robust(fit, cluster = author, clubSandwich = TRUE)
```
However in the metafor documentation the robust function is used on a
multilevel model. Do I have to fit a multilevel model (with the problem of
having few clusters) and then the robust function or my approach is correct?

thank you

-- 
*Filippo Gambarota, PhD*
Postdoctoral Researcher - University of Padova
Department of Developmental and Social Psychology
Website: filippogambarota.xyz
Research Groups: Colab <http://colab.psy.unipd.it/>   Psicostat
<https://psicostat.dpss.psy.unipd.it/>

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