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Chapman & Hall/CRC Statistics in the Social and Behavioral Sciences
Multilevel Modeling Using R (Chapman & Hall/CRC Statistics in the Social and Behavioral Sciences) by W. Holmes Finch
Excellent Book
Paperback
First published December 26, 2013
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March 22, 2018
This brief book is designed in the model of a practitioner's guide with just enough theory to understand how to call and interpret the R functions. Unfortunately, it partially fails in this; the mathematical background it provides is too thin to explain several key concepts and they are glossed over.
For example, when explaining why to use multilevel models, the book compares them to a strawman of not including the groupings at all; a more meaningful comparison would have been to a linear model which included the grouping variable as a factor. A better explanation is provided for free in one paragraph in section 2.2 of the lmer vignette documentation.
As another example, in describing the lme4 syntax, the book explains how to specify that random slopes are correlated or uncorrelated, but does not explain what that actually means, what it translates to in equations, or how it actually impacts the model fit. The term "shrinkage" is never mentioned.
I would recommend the multilevel modeling book by Gelman and Hill instead, or the unfinished online PDF by Doug Bates.
For example, when explaining why to use multilevel models, the book compares them to a strawman of not including the groupings at all; a more meaningful comparison would have been to a linear model which included the grouping variable as a factor. A better explanation is provided for free in one paragraph in section 2.2 of the lmer vignette documentation.
As another example, in describing the lme4 syntax, the book explains how to specify that random slopes are correlated or uncorrelated, but does not explain what that actually means, what it translates to in equations, or how it actually impacts the model fit. The term "shrinkage" is never mentioned.
I would recommend the multilevel modeling book by Gelman and Hill instead, or the unfinished online PDF by Doug Bates.
Displaying 1 of 1 review