Simulate random‑effect contributions for all grouping factors

For each random effect term the function draws `n.sims` samples from the conditional multivariate normal distribution (BLUPs + post‑var). The result is a named list where each element is an array of dimensions `nrow(newdata)` × `n.sims`.

Usage

simulate_random_effects(
  merMod,
  newdata,
  n.sims,
  .parallel = FALSE,
  seed = NULL,
  new.levels = c("zero", "draw")
)

Arguments

merMod

A merMod object.

newdata

Data frame containing the prediction covariates.

n.sims

Number of simulations.

.parallel

Logical flag to enable parallel execution via foreach.

seed

Optional random seed for reproducibility.

new.levels

Character; how to treat grouping levels present in `newdata` but absent from the fitted model. `"zero"` drops the random effect for such levels; `"draw"` samples each unobserved level's effect from the estimated random-effect covariance (`VarCorr`).

Value

List of matrices (rows = observations, cols = simulations).