title: Unbalanced repeated-measures models with structured covariance matrices.
abstract: The question of how to analyze unbalanced or incomplete repeated-measures data is a common problem facing analysts. We address this problem through maximum likelihood analysis using a general linear model for expected responses and arbitrary structural models for the within-subject covariances. Models that can be fit include standard univariate and multivariate models with incomplete data, random-effects models, and models with time-series and factor-analytic error structures. We describe Newton-Raphson and Fisher scoring algorithms for computing maximum likelihood estimates, and generalized EM algorithms for computing restricted and unrestricted maximum likelihood estimates. An example fitting several models to a set of growth data is included.
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008962:Models, Theoretical