Statistical Quantification of Individual Differences (SQuID): an educational and statistical tool for understanding multilevel phenotypic data in linear mixed models
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Summary Phenotypic variation exists in and at all levels of biological organization: variation exists among species, among‐individuals within‐populations, and in the case of l within‐populations abile traits, within‐individuals. Mixed‐effects models represent ideal tools to quantify multilevel measurements of traits and are being increasingly used in evolutionary ecology. Mixed‐effects models are relatively complex, and two main issues may be hampering their proper usage: (i) the relatively few educational resources available to teach new users how to implement and interpret them and (ii) the lack of tools to ensure that the statistical parameters of interest are correctly estimated. In this paper, we introduce Statistical Quantification of Individual Differences (SQuID), a simulation‐based tool that can be used for research and educational purposes. SQuID creates a virtual world inhabited by subjects whose phenotypes are generated by a user‐defined phenotypic equation, which allows easy translation of biological hypotheses into quantifiable parameters. Statistical Quantification of Individual Differences currently models normally distributed traits with linear predictors, but SQuID is subject to further development and will adapt to handle more complex scenarios in the future. The current framework is suitable for performing simulation studies, determining optimal sampling designs for user‐specific biological problems and making simulation‐based inferences to aid in the interpretation of empirical studies. Statistical Quantification of Individual Differences is also a teaching tool for biologists interested in learning, or teaching others, how to implement and interpret linear mixed‐effects models when studying the processes causing phenotypic variation. Interface‐based modules allow users to learn about these issues. As research on effects of sampling designs continues, new issues will be implemented in new modules, including nonlinear and non‐Gaussian data.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.022 | 0.075 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.003 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.004 | 0.002 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.002 | 0.003 |
| Open science | 0.003 | 0.005 |
| Research integrity | 0.002 | 0.005 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.030 | 0.005 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".