The DOI matches its Crossref record; 21 of the 21 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Understanding Mixed-Effects Models Through Data Simulation
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
Abstract
Experimental designs that sample both subjects and stimuli from a larger population need to account for random effects of both subjects and stimuli using mixed-effects models. However, much of this research is analyzed using analysis of variance on aggregated responses because researchers are not confident specifying and interpreting mixed-effects models. This Tutorial explains how to simulate data with random-effects structure and analyze the data using linear mixed-effects regression (with the lme4 R package), with a focus on interpreting the output in light of the simulated parameters. Data simulation not only can enhance understanding of how these models work, but also enables researchers to perform power calculations for complex designs. All materials associated with this article can be accessed at https://osf.io/3cz2e/ .
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Using parameters estimated from own previous study (i.e., fixed effects beta coefficients and random effects’ variance; Kapaj et al., 2023), we found that a minimum of 40 participants, each completing 10 pointing task trials would achieve an 83% power (see data availability statement for study preregistration).”
From The influence of landmark visualization style on task performance, visual attention, and spatial learning in a real-world navigation task (2024) · cites this paper as DeBruine & Barr, 2021
Citations
Cites
Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4
Bates, D., Mächler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S. (2015) · Journal of Statistical Software · doi:10.18637/jss.v067.i01 · Cited by 86,835
lmerTest Package: Tests in Linear Mixed Effects Models
Kuznetsova, A., Brockhoff, P. B., & Christensen, R. H. B. (2017) · Journal of Statistical Software · doi:10.18637/jss.v082.i13 · Cited by 24,346
Random effects structure for confirmatory hypothesis testing: Keep it maximal
Barr, D. J., Levy, R., Scheepers, C., & Tily, H. J. (2013) · Journal of Memory and Language · doi:10.1016/j.jml.2012.11.001 · Cited by 10,328
Self-citationMixed-effects modeling with crossed random effects for subjects and items
Baayen, R. H., Davidson, D. J., & Bates, D. M. (2008) · Journal of Memory and Language · doi:10.1016/j.jml.2007.12.005 · Cited by 8,540 · cited 1×
“…over ANOVA, including the ability to simultaneously model subject and stimulus variation, to gracefully deal with missing data or unbalanced designs, and to accommodate arbitrary types of continuous and categorical predictors or response variables (Baayen et al., 2008; Locker et al., 2007).”
BackgroundThe language-as-fixed-effect fallacy: A critique of language statistics in psychological research
Clark, H. H. (1973) · Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior · doi:10.1016/s0022-5371(73)80014-3 · Cited by 2,265
Balancing Type I error and power in linear mixed models
Matuschek, H., Kliegl, R. M., Vasishth, S., Baayen, R. H., & Bates, D. M. (2017) · Journal of Memory and Language · doi:10.1016/j.jml.2017.01.001 · Cited by 2,258
Evaluating significance in linear mixed-effects models in R
Luke, S. G. (2017) · Behavior Research Methods · doi:10.3758/s13428-016-0809-y · Cited by 1,704
tidyverse: Easily Install and Load the 'Tidyverse'
Wickham, H. (2016) · doi:10.32614/cran.package.tidyverse · Cited by 1,520
Judd, C. M., Westfall, J., & Kenny, D. A. (2012) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0028347 · Cited by 1,236
Westfall, J., Kenny, D. A., & Judd, C. M. (2014) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General · doi:10.1037/xge0000014 · Cited by 928
Random effects structure for testing interactions in linear mixed-effects models
Barr, D. J. (2013) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00328 · Cited by 782
Self-citationYarkoni, T. (2022) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x20001685 · Cited by 701
The Oxford Handbook of Psycholinguistics
(2018) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198786825.001.0001 · Cited by 242
On the use of multilevel modeling as an alternative to items analysis in psycholinguistic research
Locker, L., Hoffman, L., & Bovaird, J. A. (2007) · Behavior Research Methods · doi:10.3758/bf03192962 · Cited by 113
Generalizing to a Language Population
Coleman, E. B. (1964) · Psychological Reports · doi:10.2466/pr0.1964.14.1.219 · Cited by 111
Forster, K. I., & Dickinson, R. G. (1976) · Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior · doi:10.1016/0022-5371(76)90014-1 · Cited by 105
Wickham, H. (2019) · Chapman & Hall/CRC eBooks · doi:10.1201/9781351201315 · Cited by 87
Fixing the stimulus-as-fixed-effect fallacy in task fMRI
Westfall, J., Nichols, T. E., & Yarkoni, T. (2016) · Wellcome Open Research · doi:10.12688/wellcomeopenres.10298.2 · Cited by 85
broom.mixed: Tidying Methods for Mixed Models
Bolker, B. M., & Robinson, D. P. (2018) · doi:10.32614/cran.package.broom.mixed · Cited by 81
Item analysis in functional magnetic resonance imaging
Bedny, M., Aguirre, G. K., & Thompson‐Schill, S. L. (2007) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.01.039 · Cited by 57
faux: Simulation for Factorial Designs
DeBruine, L. M. (2020) · doi:10.32614/cran.package.faux · Cited by 26
Self-citation
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Estimating power in (generalized) linear mixed models: An open introduction and tutorial in R
Kumle, L., Võ, M. L.-H., & Draschkow, D. (2021) · Behavior Research Methods · doi:10.3758/s13428-021-01546-0 · Cited by 552
Ito, A., & Knoeferle, P. (2022) · Behavior Research Methods · doi:10.3758/s13428-022-01969-3 · Cited by 119
How to embrace variation and accept uncertainty in linguistic and psycholinguistic data analysis
Vasishth, S., & Gelman, A. (2021) · Linguistics · doi:10.1515/ling-2019-0051 · Cited by 76
Improving the precision of intranasal oxytocin research
Winterton, A., Westlye, L. T., Steen, N. E., Andreassen, O. A., & Quintana, D. S. (2020) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-020-00996-4 · Cited by 65
Heise, M. J., Mon, S. K., & Bowman, L. C. (2022) · Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101070 · Cited by 66
Metadata
- Authors
- DeBruine, L. M., & Barr, D. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Glasgow (GB)
- Corresponding author
- DeBruine, Lisa M.
- Venue
- Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2021-01
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 1
- ISSN
- 2515-2459 (ISSN-L)
- 2515-2467
- OpenAlex
- W2951982695
- Cited by
- 148
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 35 · 2024: 34 · 2023: 30 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 11
- FWCI
- 18.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- H2020 European Research Council (647910)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistical Methods and Bayesian Inference
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistics Education and Methodologies
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agronomy and Crop Science › Agriculture, Soil, Plant Science
- Keywords
- mixed models, data simulation, random effects, linear mixed models, lme4, power analysis, experimental design, model interpretation
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review