[R-sig-ME] Some Basic lmer Questions

[Ken Beath]

On 15/01/2008, at 7:50 AM, Andrew Robinson wrote:

> Hi Kevin,
>
> welcome to the wonderful world of mixed-models!  I heartily recommend
> that you read the following books: Gelman and Hill, and Pinehiro and
> Bates.
>

For linear mixed models I would also suggest Verbeke and Molenberghs  
"Linear Mixed Models for Longitudinal Data"

> On Mon, Jan 14, 2008 at 03:21:20PM -0500, Kevin E. Thorpe wrote:
>>
>> Finally, (and feel free to point me at suitable references)
>> how does one determine the appropriate correlation structure
>> to use in these models?

While you can make life more complicated AIC is a reasonable method.  
This is criticised as it is not the same as statistical significance  
but all we need is a reasonable model for the correlation so that  
inferences about the other parameters are correct.

Ken