Performance measures
SE
The following performance measures were calculated for each scenario:Convergence of model: how often the analysis models converged (both at the observational study and trial stage). Other performance measures are calculated for the simulated trials for which all models converged. We also recorded whether the estimated correlation between the random intercept and slopes was close to the boundary (magnitude Power (when a treatment effect is present) or Type I error (for no treatment effect)Mean treatment effectEmpirical SE (the standard deviation of the treatment effects across the simulated trials)Mean model-based SE (the square-root of the mean of the treatment effect variances from the simulated trials)Percentage bias in model-based SEs (as compared to the empirical SE)