Inferential statistics (like p-values, confidence intervals and
standard errors) may be biased in mixed models when the number of clusters
is small (even if the sample size of level-1 units is high). In such cases
it is recommended to approximate a more accurate number of degrees of freedom
for such inferential statistics. Unlike simpler approximation heuristics
like the "m-l-1" rule (dof_ml1
), the Kenward-Roger approximation is
also applicable in more complex multilevel designs, e.g. with cross-classified
clusters. However, the "m-l-1" heuristic also applies to generalized
mixed models, while approaches like Kenward-Roger or Satterthwaite are limited
to linear mixed models only.