Thanks again Ben, I went ahead and used the zip file from the link you sent to install lme4-3. This time I did not get the convergence warning. However, the verbose=T statement did not appear to work (i.e., it didn't print the iteration history). Probably not a big deal, but I thought it was odd and wondered if it might also not be printing the warning message despite having the same issue.

Below, I've placed my results from the same model for all three programs: HLM, lme4-2, and lme4-3. I also added the correlation between the variance components into this table, because with lme4-3 I get an estimated correlation between the random student intercept/slope of 1.0 (which was not the case with the other programs). 

So, at this point I think I'm going to run with lme4-2, and just ignore the convergence warning, unless you'd suggest otherwise?

Thanks,
Daniel

Parameter                       HLM         lme4_0.999999-2    lme4_0.999999-3

Fixed Effects                                                            

  Intercept                        251.032824        251.03099      251.03639

  Growth                          5.911175            5.90961          5.90585

Variance Components                                              

  Student intercept           41.38687            41.51581        41.1965

  Student slope                 0.50270              0.45086         0.3136

    Correlation int/slope      0.747                  0.780              1.00

  Within student               9.78905              9.84352          9.9733

  School intercept             5.72659              5.97047          5.7248

  School slope                   0.85956              0.72623          0.8516

     Correlation int/slope     -0.155                 -0.185            -0.168


> From: Ben Bolker <bbolker@gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [R-sig-ME] LMER False Convergence (8)
> Date: May 31, 2013 10:37:17 AM PDT
> To: r-sig-mixed-models@r-project.org
> 
> 
> Daniel Anderson <djauoregon@...> writes:
> 
>> 
> 
> [snip]
> 
>> I tried installing the source version of lme4, as you suggested,
>> but still did not have success. I did get the
>> following error message, however, so if the -3 
>> version is significantly
>> different than the -2 version I
>> was able to install then it could still be an option. 
>> 
>> Warning: unable to access index for repository
>> http://lme4.r-forge.r-project.org/repos/bin/windows/contrib/3.0
>> 
>>  There is a binary version available (and will be installed) but the
>>  source version is later:
>>         binary       source
>> lme4 0.999999-2 0.99999911-3
> 
>  I've added a more recent binary; it may take up to 24 hours for the
> r-forge repository to update.
> If you're in a big hurry you can download the zip file from
> 
> https://r-forge.r-project.org/scm/viewvc.php/*checkout*/www/repos/bin/windows/
>     contrib/3.0/
>    lme4_0.99999911-3.zip?revision=1816&root=lme4
> 
> (URL broken to make Gmane happy, sorry)
> 
> and install it using repos=NULL
> 
>  The differences you're seeing below wouldn't worry me *very* much --
> the results are certainly qualitatively similar -- but it would be
> nice if the devel verion of lme4 happened to match HLM even more
> closely (it's not guaranteed of course that HLM is right and lme4 is
> wrong, but HLM has probably still been more thoroughly tested ...)
> 
> 
>> 
>> Thanks again for your help,
>> Daniel
>> 
>> Parameter                            HLM                            lme4
>> 
>> Fixed Effects                                                      
>> Intercept                         251.032824 (0.102705)   251.03099  (0.10443)
>> Growth                               5.911175 (0.04071)     5.90961 (0.03776
>> Variance Components                                                      
> 
>> Student intercept              41.38687                              41.51581
>> Student slope                     0.50270                             0.45086
>> Within student                   9.78905                              9.84352
>> School intercept                 5.72659                              5.97047
>> School slope                       0.85956                            0.72623
>> 
> 
>  [snip]
> 
> 
> 

Thanks,
--
Daniel Anderson
Research Assistant
Behavioral Research and Teaching
University of Oregon











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