Get startedGet started for free

Multi-level student data

Before using hierarchical models, explore the data with a plot and linear model. Plotting data gives you visual intuition and allows you to see potential trends or problems. Building a simple model provides a comparison to a hierarchical model. Building a simple linear model provides a starting place for hierarchical models and troubleshooting the linear model is quicker and simpler than a hierarchical model.

During this exercise, you will plot how a student's gain in math scores may be predicted by the teacher's math knowledge.

This exercise is part of the course

Hierarchical and Mixed Effects Models in R

View Course

Hands-on interactive exercise

Have a go at this exercise by completing this sample code.

# Plot the data
ggplot(data = ___, aes(x = ___, y = ___)) +
    geom_point() +
    geom_smooth(method = ___)
Edit and Run Code