nlme (version 3.1-31)

groupedData: Construct a groupedData Object

Description

An object of the groupedData class is constructed from the formula and data by attaching the formula as an attribute of the data, along with any of outer, inner, labels, and units that are given. If order.groups is TRUE the grouping factor is converted to an ordered factor with the ordering determined by FUN. Depending on the number of grouping levels and the type of primary covariate, the returned object will be of one of three classes: nfnGroupedData - numeric covariate, single level of nesting; nffGroupedData - factor covariate, single level of nesting; and nmGroupedData - multiple levels of nesting. Several modeling and plotting functions can use the formula stored with a groupedData object to construct default plots and models.

Usage

groupedData(formula, data, order.groups, FUN, outer, inner,
 labels, units)
## S3 method for class 'groupedData':
update(object, formula, data, order.groups, FUN,
outer, inner, labels, units, \dots)

Value

an object of one of the classes nfnGroupedData, nffGroupedData, or nmGroupedData, and also inheriting from classes groupedData and data.frame.

References

Bates, D.M. and Pinheiro, J.C. (1997), "Software Design for Longitudinal Data", in "Modelling Longitudinal and Spatially Correlated Data: Methods, Applications and Future Directions", T.G. Gregoire (ed.), Springer-Verlag, New York.

Pinheiro, J.C. and Bates, D.M. (1997) "Future Directions in Mixed-Effects Software: Design of NLME 3.0" available at http://nlme.stat.wisc.edu/

See Also

formula, gapply, gsummary, lme

Examples

data(Orthodont)
Orth.new <-  # create a new copy of the groupedData object
  groupedData( distance ~ age | Subject,
              data = as.data.frame( Orthodont ),
              FUN = mean,
              outer = ~ Sex,
              labels = list( x = "Age",
                y = "Distance from pituitary to pterygomaxillary fissure" ),
              units = list( x = "(yr)", y = "(mm)") )
plot( Orth.new )         # trellis plot by Subject
formula( Orth.new )      # extractor for the formula
gsummary( Orth.new )     # apply summary by Subject
fm1 <- lme( Orth.new )   # fixed and groups formulae extracted from object
Orthodont2 <- update(Orthodont, FUN = mean)