[R-sig-ME] sample weights in lmer

[Gasper Cankar]

Dear R users,

I found in this mailing list the post from Adam that's been unanswered.
Since I came across same problem, I'll join his kind request for any
help on using sample weights with lmer.

Thanks for any response,

___________________
Gasper Cankar. PhD 
researcher
National Examinations Centre (Ric)
gasper.cankar at ric.si
tel. +386 1 54 84 682
fax. +386 1 54 84 601

Adam's post:

>From aslez at ssc.wisc.edu  Sat Oct 18 00:09:31 2008
From: aslez at ssc.wisc.edu (aslez at ssc.wisc.edu)
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:09:31 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [R-sig-ME] sample weights in lmer
Message-ID:
<4739.128.104.27.172.1224281371.squirrel at webmail.ssc.wisc.edu>

Fellow R users,

I was wondering whether it is possible incorporate sample weights into
the
lmer command.  My understanding is that the existing weights option
follows the types of weights used with the lm command; that is, they are
the type of weights you would use when doing something like weighted
least
squares models.  To the best of my knowledge, sample or design weights
are
not equivalent to the types of model weights we use for WLS.  I have at
least quasi-confirmed this by comparing lmer results to results produced
using HLM.  Without weights, the results are identical. With weights,
they
differ.  I know for a fact HLM is using sample weights.

This maybe a relatively simple question, but I just made the switch to
R,
so the answer isn't completely obvious to me.  My thought is either that
there is a way of linking svydesign commands with the lmer routine, or
that theres a way of "tricking" lmer so that it produces sample-weighted
results using the WLS-type weights command.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Adam