MLwiN very slow to load data from runmlwin [SOLVED]

[ewancarr]

I'm trying to run some 2- and 3-level binary models via runmlwin. For some reason, MLwiN is taking a very long time to load the data each time a model is run — the "Reading record..." message in the status bar takes about 10 minutes to finish. I've run similar models without problems in the past.

Are there any possible explanations for this? The dataset is fairly straightforward:

Code: Select all

N             = 59,226  
Variables     = 38 

The model is:

Code: Select all

xi: runmlwin affect cons, ///
   level2(wave: cons) ///
   level1(uniqid:) ///
   discrete(dist(binomial) link(logit) denom(denom) pql2) ///
   maxiterations(40) ///
   nopause 

While I'm here: does runmlwin support factor variables? I've been using "xi:" up until now, which isn't ideal.

I'm using the latest version of runmlwin and MLwiN 2.25.

Many thanks,

Ewan
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[GeorgeLeckie]

Hi Ewan,

Sounds odd. The data set that corresponds to the runmlwin model that you pasted into the post only has ~60,000 rows and 5 variables. This is very small and should not take long at all to load at all, really just a matter of seconds.

Please first check that you are using the latest version of runmlwin and that you get the same problem with this latest version

Code: Select all

ssc install runmlwin, replace

Then please email me the Stata do-file and dataset to replicate the problem

Best wishes

George

[ewancarr]

Thanks George — after some trial and error, I seem to have solved my own problem.

For some reason, I had left my individual-level ID as a string variable. Once I replaced this with an integer ID variable (gen pid = _n) the file loaded almost instantly into MLwiN.

I think what threw me was that I had changed a few things at once (Stata 12, MLwiN 2.25, new data) in the past few days, so assumed some of these were causing the problem.

Many thanks for getting back so quickly,

Ewan
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[GeorgeLeckie]

Great,

I'm glad you have solved the problem and thank you for letting us know.

Best wishes

George

[ChrisCharlton]

To answer your other question, runmlwin should support factor variables in the fixed part but this hasn't been widely tested.

[ewancarr]

To answer your other question, runmlwin should support factor variables in the fixed part but this hasn't been widely tested.

Thanks — I'll give it a go.

Ewan
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