lme4

The term “multilevel data” refers to data organized in a hierarchical structure, where units of analysis are grouped into clusters. For example, in a cross-sectional study, multilevel data could be made up of individual measurements of students from different schools, where students are nested within schools. In a longitudinal study, multilevel data could be made up of multiple time point measurements of individuals, where time points are nested within individuals.

If you have ever used the R package lme4 to perform mixed-effect modeling you may have noticed the “Correlation of Fixed Effects” section at the bottom of the summary output. This article intends to shed some light on what this section means and how you might interpret it.