"aster model fit not converged"

[geyer]

What when the summary function says the subject line?

Need more iterations to find the MLE.  Increase the number of iterations in the call to the aster function, maxiter = 5000 or whatever.

[Jake Heare]

Hi,

I'm just starting to use the aster model to some analysis on my oyster data. My data set is somewhat limited but I have developed it in such a way that aster can run on it. My biggest problem is no matter how many iterations I have it run, it never converges. I'm not sure what I can do to fix this. Sadly the data isn't as neat as I would like it to be. Some sample sets were visited many times while others were visited infrequently. The other problem is that the mortality and reproductive activity in the animals were less than 10% at every visit for every sample set. My current thinking is the samples are so statistically similar that their isn't a proper solution for the model to converge on. Is there any chance I could manipulate the model in such a way to have it converge or is the data too limited. 

Thanks,

Jake

[geyer]

Since I don't really have any idea what is what with your data, I cannot say specifically.  Just guessing without looking is not likely to hit on the correct answer.  Look at the instructions (at top level) for posting your data and the analysis you are trying to do.