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https://github.com/paul-buerkner/brms

brms R package for Bayesian generalized multivariate non-linear multilevel models using Stan
https://github.com/paul-buerkner/brms

bayesian-inference brms multilevel-models r-package stan statistical-models

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brms R package for Bayesian generalized multivariate non-linear multilevel models using Stan

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README 

        
---

output:

  md_document:

    variant: markdown_github

---



```{r, include=FALSE}

stopifnot(require(knitr))

options(width = 90)

knitr::opts_chunk$set(

  collapse = TRUE,

  comment = "#>",

  fig.path = "man/figures/README-",

  dev = "png",

  dpi = 150,

  fig.asp = 0.8,

  fig.width = 5,

  out.width = "60%",

  fig.align = "center"

)

library(brms)

ggplot2::theme_set(bayesplot::theme_default())

set.seed(1234)

```



brms Logo[Stan Logo](https://mc-stan.org/)



# brms



[![R-CMD-check](https://github.com/paul-buerkner/brms/workflows/R-CMD-check/badge.svg)](https://github.com/paul-buerkner/brms/actions)

[![Coverage Status](https://codecov.io/github/paul-buerkner/brms/coverage.svg?branch=master)](https://app.codecov.io/github/paul-buerkner/brms?branch=master)

[![CRAN Version](https://www.r-pkg.org/badges/version/brms)](https://cran.r-project.org/package=brms)

[![Downloads](https://cranlogs.r-pkg.org/badges/brms?color=brightgreen)](https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=brms)



## Overview



The **brms** package provides an interface to fit Bayesian generalized

(non-)linear multivariate multilevel models using Stan, which is a C++ package

for performing full Bayesian inference (see https://mc-stan.org/). The formula

syntax is very similar to that of the package lme4 to provide a familiar and

simple interface for performing regression analyses. A wide range of response

distributions are supported, allowing users to fit -- among others -- linear,

robust linear, count data, survival, response times, ordinal, zero-inflated, and

even self-defined mixture models all in a multilevel context. Further modeling

options include non-linear and smooth terms, auto-correlation structures,

censored data, missing value imputation, and quite a few more. In addition, all

parameters of the response distribution can be predicted in order to perform

distributional regression. Multivariate models (i.e., models with multiple

response variables) can be fit, as well. Prior specifications are flexible and

explicitly encourage users to apply prior distributions that actually reflect

their beliefs. Model fit can easily be assessed and compared with posterior

predictive checks, cross-validation, and Bayes factors.



## Resources



* [Introduction to brms](https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v080.i01) (Journal of Statistical Software)

* [Advanced multilevel modeling with brms](https://journal.r-project.org/archive/2018/RJ-2018-017/index.html) (The R Journal)

* [Website](https://paulbuerkner.com/brms/) (Website of brms with documentation and vignettes)

* [Blog posts](http://paulbuerkner.com/software/brms-blogposts.html) (List of blog posts about brms)

* [Ask a question](https://discourse.mc-stan.org/) (Stan Forums on Discourse)

* [Open an issue](https://github.com/paul-buerkner/brms/issues) (GitHub issues for bug reports and feature requests)



##  How to use brms



```{r load, message=FALSE}

library(brms)

```



As a simple example, we use poisson regression to model the seizure counts in

epileptic patients to investigate whether the treatment (represented by variable

`Trt`) can reduce the seizure counts and whether the effect of the treatment

varies with the (standardized) baseline number of seizures a person had before

treatment (variable `zBase`). As we have multiple observations per person, a

group-level intercept is incorporated to account for the resulting dependency in

the data.



```{r fit1, results='hide', message=FALSE}

fit1 <- brm(count ~ zAge + zBase * Trt + (1|patient),

            data = epilepsy, family = poisson())

```



The results (i.e., posterior draws) can be investigated using



```{r summary}

summary(fit1)

```



On the top of the output, some general information on the model is given, such

as family, formula, number of iterations and chains. Next, group-level effects

are displayed separately for each grouping factor in terms of standard

deviations and (in case of more than one group-level effect per grouping factor;

not displayed here) correlations between group-level effects. On the bottom of

the output, population-level effects (i.e. regression coefficients) are

displayed. If incorporated, autocorrelation effects and family specific

parameters (e.g., the residual standard deviation 'sigma' in normal models) are

also given.



In general, every parameter is summarized using the mean ('Estimate') and the

standard deviation ('Est.Error') of the posterior distribution as well as

two-sided 95% credible intervals ('l-95% CI' and 'u-95% CI') based on quantiles.

We see that the coefficient of `Trt` is negative with a zero overlapping

95\%-CI. This indicates that, on average, the treatment may reduce seizure

counts by some amount but the evidence based on the data and applied model is

not very strong and still insufficient by standard decision rules. Further, we

find little evidence that the treatment effect varies with the baseline number

of seizures.



The last three values ('ESS_bulk', 'ESS_tail', and 'Rhat') provide information

on how well the algorithm could estimate the posterior distribution of this

parameter. If 'Rhat' is considerably greater than 1, the algorithm has not yet

converged and it is necessary to run more iterations and / or set stronger

priors.



To visually investigate the chains as well as the posterior distributions, we

can use the `plot` method. If we just want to see results of the regression

coefficients of `Trt` and `zBase`, we go for



```{r plot}

plot(fit1, variable = c("b_Trt1", "b_zBase"))

```



A more detailed investigation can be performed by running

`launch_shinystan(fit1)`. To better understand the relationship of the

predictors with the response, I recommend the `conditional_effects` method:



```{r conditional_effects}

plot(conditional_effects(fit1, effects = "zBase:Trt"))

```



This method uses some prediction functionality behind the scenes, which can also

be called directly. Suppose that we want to predict responses (i.e. seizure

counts) of a person in the treatment group (`Trt = 1`) and in the control group

(`Trt = 0`) with average age and average number of previous seizures. Than we

can use



```{r predict}

newdata <- data.frame(Trt = c(0, 1), zAge = 0, zBase = 0)

predict(fit1, newdata = newdata, re_formula = NA)

```



We need to set `re_formula = NA` in order not to condition of the group-level

effects. While the `predict` method returns predictions of the responses, the

`fitted` method returns predictions of the regression line.



```{r fitted}

fitted(fit1, newdata = newdata, re_formula = NA)

```



Both methods return the same estimate (up to random error), while the latter has

smaller variance, because the uncertainty in the regression line is smaller than

the uncertainty in each response. If we want to predict values of the original

data, we can just leave the `newdata` argument empty.



Suppose, we want to investigate whether there is overdispersion in the model,

that is residual variation not accounted for by the response distribution. For

this purpose, we include a second group-level intercept that captures possible

overdispersion.



```{r fit2, results='hide', message=FALSE}

fit2 <- brm(count ~ zAge + zBase * Trt + (1|patient) + (1|obs),

            data = epilepsy, family = poisson())

```



We can then go ahead and compare both models via approximate leave-one-out (LOO)

cross-validation.



```{r loo, warning=FALSE}

loo(fit1, fit2)

```



The `loo` output when comparing models is a little verbose. We first see the

individual LOO summaries of the two models and then the comparison between them.

Since higher `elpd` (i.e., expected log posterior density) values indicate

better fit, we see that the model accounting for overdispersion (i.e., `fit2`)

fits substantially better. However, we also see in the individual LOO outputs

that there are several problematic observations for which the approximations may

have not have been very accurate. To deal with this appropriately, we need to fall

back to other methods such as `reloo` or `kfold` but this requires the model to

be refit several times which takes too long for the purpose of a quick example.

The post-processing methods we have shown above are just the tip of the

iceberg. For a full list of methods to apply on fitted model objects, type

`methods(class = "brmsfit")`.



## Citing brms and related software



Developing and maintaining open source software is an important yet often

underappreciated contribution to scientific progress. Thus, whenever you are

using open source software (or software in general), please make sure to cite it

appropriately so that developers get credit for their work.



When using brms, please cite one or more of the following publications:



- Bürkner P. C. (2017). brms: An R Package for Bayesian Multilevel Models

  using Stan. *Journal of Statistical Software*. 80(1), 1-28.

  doi.org/10.18637/jss.v080.i01

- Bürkner P. C. (2018). Advanced Bayesian Multilevel Modeling with the R

  Package brms. *The R Journal*. 10(1), 395-411. doi.org/10.32614/RJ-2018-017

- Bürkner P. C. (2021). Bayesian Item Response Modeling in R with brms and Stan. 

  *Journal of Statistical Software*, 100(5), 1-54. doi.org/10.18637/jss.v100.i05



As brms is a high-level interface to Stan, please additionally cite Stan

(see also https://mc-stan.org/users/citations/):



- Stan Development Team. YEAR. Stan Modeling Language Users Guide and Reference 

  Manual, VERSION. https://mc-stan.org

- Carpenter B., Gelman A., Hoffman M. D., Lee D., Goodrich B., Betancourt M.,

  Brubaker M., Guo J., Li P., and Riddell A. (2017). Stan: A probabilistic

  programming language. *Journal of Statistical Software*. 76(1).

  doi.org/10.18637/jss.v076.i01



Further, brms relies on several other R packages and, of course, on R itself. To

find out how to cite R and its packages, use the `citation` function. There are

some features of brms which specifically rely on certain packages. The **rstan**

package together with **Rcpp** makes Stan conveniently accessible in R.

Visualizations and posterior-predictive checks are based on **bayesplot** and

**ggplot2**. Approximate leave-one-out cross-validation using `loo` and related

methods is done via the **loo** package. Marginal likelihood based methods such

as `bayes_factor` are realized by means of the **bridgesampling** package.

Splines specified via the `s` and `t2` functions rely on **mgcv**. If you use

some of these features, please also consider citing the related packages.



## FAQ



### How do I install brms?



To install the latest release version from CRAN use



```{r install_brms, eval=FALSE}

install.packages("brms")

```



The current developmental version can be downloaded from GitHub via



```{r install_brms2, eval=FALSE}

if (!requireNamespace("remotes")) {

  install.packages("remotes")

}

remotes::install_github("paul-buerkner/brms")

```



Because brms is based on Stan, a C++ compiler is required. The program Rtools

(available on https://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/Rtools/) comes with a C++

compiler for Windows. On Mac, you should install Xcode. For further instructions

on how to get the compilers running, see the prerequisites section on

https://github.com/stan-dev/rstan/wiki/RStan-Getting-Started.



### I am new to brms. Where can I start?



Detailed instructions and case studies are given in the package's extensive

vignettes. See `vignette(package = "brms")` for an overview. For documentation

on formula syntax, families, and prior distributions see `help("brm")`.



### Where do I ask questions, propose a new feature, or report a bug?



Questions can be asked on the [Stan forums](https://discourse.mc-stan.org/) on

Discourse. To propose a new feature or report a bug, please open an issue on

[GitHub](https://github.com/paul-buerkner/brms).



### How can I extract the generated Stan code?



If you have already fitted a model, apply the `stancode` method on the

fitted model object. If you just want to generate the Stan code without any

model fitting, use the `stancode` method on your model formula.



### Can I avoid compiling models?



When you fit your model for the first time with brms, there is currently no way

to avoid compilation. However, if you have already fitted your model and want to

run it again, for instance with more draws, you can do this without

recompilation by using the `update` method. For more details see

`help("update.brmsfit")`.



### What is the difference between brms and rstanarm?



The rstanarm package is similar to brms in that it also allows to fit regression

models using Stan for the backend estimation. Contrary to brms, rstanarm comes

with precompiled code to save the compilation time (and the need for a C++

compiler) when fitting a model. However, as brms generates its Stan code on the

fly, it offers much more flexibility in model specification than rstanarm. Also,

multilevel models are currently fitted a bit more efficiently in brms. For

detailed comparisons of brms with other common R packages implementing

multilevel models, see `vignette("brms_multilevel")` and

`vignette("brms_overview")`.