robustlmm: Robust Estimating Equations and Examples

This vignette attempts to give some background on the robust estimation method implemented in “rlmer”. Moreover, two example analyses are included that aim to facilitate the first time user to start working with this package. The text presented here is basically a summary of Koller (2013). In said reference, a detailed derivation of the methods underlying “rlmer” can be found. The model and some notation is introduced in Section 1. The robust estimating equations are given in Section 2. Then two examples are analyzed in Sections 3 and 4. Both datasets are also analyzed in Bates (2011). For the convenience of the reader, the description of the datasets found there has been included here. Finally, in Section 5 we provide tables of tuning constants and the definition of the smoothed Huber ψ-function.