RoBMA_control: Control MCMC fitting process

Description

set_autofit_control and set_convergence_checks control settings for the autofit process of the MCMC JAGS sampler and specify termination criteria and convergence checks.

Usage

set_autofit_control(
  max_Rhat = 1.05,
  min_ESS = 500,
  max_error = NULL,
  max_SD_error = NULL,
  max_time = list(time = 60, unit = "mins"),
  sample_extend = 1000,
  restarts = 10,
  max_extend = 10
)
set_convergence_checks(
  max_Rhat = 1.05,
  min_ESS = 500,
  max_error = NULL,
  max_SD_error = NULL
)

Value

set_autofit_control returns a list of autofit control settings including max_Rhat, min_ESS, max_error, max_SD_error, max_time, sample_extend, restarts, max_extend, and delegated check_indicators. set_convergence_checks returns a list with convergence thresholds max_Rhat, min_ESS, max_error, max_SD_error, and delegated check_indicators.

Arguments

max_Rhat: maximum value of the R-hat diagnostic. Defaults to 1.05.
min_ESS: minimum estimated sample size. Defaults to 500.
max_error: maximum value of the MCMC error. Defaults to NULL. Be aware that PEESE publication bias adjustment can have estimates on different scale than the rest of the output, resulting in relatively large max MCMC error.
max_SD_error: maximum value of the proportion of MCMC error of the estimated SD of the parameter. Defaults to NULL.
max_time: list with the time and unit specifying the maximum autofitting process per model. Passed to difftime function (possible units are "secs", "mins", "hours", "days", and "weeks"). Defaults to list(time = 60, unit = "mins").
sample_extend: number of samples to extend the fitting process if the criteria are not satisfied. Defaults to 1000.
restarts: number of times new initial values should be generated in case a model fails to initialize. Defaults to 10.
max_extend: number of times after which the automatic fitting function is stopped. Defaults to 10.

Details

set_autofit_control controls the automatic model fitting process, determining when to stop iterating based on convergence criteria. set_convergence_checks sets thresholds for determining whether a model has converged adequately.

The autofit control manages computational resources by setting maximum time limits and determining how many additional samples to draw if convergence criteria are not met. The convergence checks determine the quality standards that fitted models must meet. Autofit thresholds max_Rhat, min_ESS, max_error, max_SD_error, max_time, restarts, and max_extend can be set to NULL; sample_extend must be a positive integer. Thresholds can be disabled with NULL; otherwise max_Rhat must be at least 1, min_ESS and max_error must be nonnegative, and max_SD_error must be between 0 and 1.

Examples

Run this code

# Set custom autofit control with shorter time limit
autofit_ctrl <- set_autofit_control(
  max_time = list(time = 30, unit = "mins"),
  sample_extend = 2000
)

# Set custom convergence checks with stricter criteria
conv_checks <- set_convergence_checks(
  max_Rhat = 1.01,
  min_ESS = 1000
)

if (FALSE) {
if (requireNamespace("metadat", quietly = TRUE)) {
  data(dat.lehmann2018, package = "metadat")

  fit <- RoBMA(
    yi                 = yi,
    vi                 = vi,
    data               = dat.lehmann2018,
    measure            = "SMD",
    autofit_control    = autofit_ctrl,
    convergence_checks = conv_checks
  )
}
}