[R] lmer and method call

[Dieter Menne]

Douglas Bates <bates <at> stat.wisc.edu> writes:

(lmer)

> The default is PQL, to refine the
> starting estimates, followed by optimization of the Laplace
> approximation.  In some cases it is an advantage to suppress the PQL
> iterations which can be done with one of the settings for the control
> argument.

I had found out the hard way that it is often better to let PQL 
play the game rather loosely.  Yet I never dared to tell someone, for fear
the approximation could end up in the wrong slot,

Any rules (beside trying variants) if I can trust such a result?

Dieter