Model averaging and weight choice in linear mixed-effects models

Abstract

This article studies model averaging for linear mixed-effects models. We establish an unbiased estimator of the squared risk for the model averaging, and use the estimator as a criterion for choosing weights. The resulting model average estimator is proved to be asymptotically optimal under some regularity conditions. Simulation experiments show it is superior or comparable to estimators based on the final models selected by the commonly-used methods and some existing averaging procedures. The proposed procedure is applied to data from an AIDS clinic trial.