Small Number of Clusters PreviousNext
Mplus Discussion > Multilevel Data/Complex Sample >
Message/Author
 Rochelle Hentges posted on Friday, November 18, 2016 - 10:53 am
Drs. Muthen:

I am running a path analysis model examining multiple mediators in the link between poverty and school grades. All variables are measured at the individual level. However, individuals are taken from 16 different schools (with sample sizes ranging from 5 to 160 individuals per school). I'd like to control for school-level effects, but my understanding is that 16 clusters is too few to run a TWO-LEVEL or COMPLEX model. Is there another way to control for school level in Mplus?
 Bengt O. Muthen posted on Friday, November 18, 2016 - 2:12 pm
You can either use 17 dummy covariates or turn to Bayesian analysis as described in the paper on our website:

Muthén, B. (2010). Bayesian analysis in Mplus: A brief introduction. Technical Report. Version 3. Click here to view Mplus inputs, data, and outputs used in this paper.
download paper contact author show abstract
 Tino Nsenene posted on Thursday, December 15, 2016 - 7:18 am
...interestingly, a new study claims that accurate inference is possible using REML estimation even if you have very few clusters; see

https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/z65s4/

Mplus is also used here in a replication study of Stegmueller's Paper.

Maybe Bengt &/or Tihoumir comment on the authors' claims - personally, I find it hard to believe that multilevel models will work when you have just e.g. 10 groups...

Best,
Tino
 Bengt O. Muthen posted on Friday, December 16, 2016 - 3:08 pm
will have a look.
Back to top
Add Your Message Here
Post:
Username: Posting Information:
This is a private posting area. Only registered users and moderators may post messages here.
Password:
Options: Enable HTML code in message
Automatically activate URLs in message
Action: