I did a simple experiment with trees: 5 species (`sp`) and two management (`trt`). I assessed the diameter (`diam`) through the time (`month=1:24`) and I'm interesting in the factors interaction effect, I mean if the management is suitable for some species. The [dataset][1] has some limitations since it is not balanced, so in 2 out of 10 factors combinations (`sp*trt`) I have 4 trees (subjects) and for the rest there are 5 trees: sp trt trees 1 A L 5 2 A W 5 3 B L 5 4 B W 5 5 C L 5 6 C W 5 7 P L 4 8 P W 5 9 T L 5 10 T W 4 I fitted the following model: m1 <- lmer(diam ~ trt * sp * month + (1|tree), data = dat1) I'm not sure if I'm doing right, mainly if the model is right... [![enter image description here][2]][2] [![enter image description here][3]][3] If the model is correct, and the anova is the following table: Analysis of Variance Table Df Sum Sq Mean Sq F value trt 1 0.12110 0.12110 17.3756 sp 4 0.06761 0.01690 2.4251 month 1 0.33917 0.33917 48.6659 trt:sp 4 0.00436 0.00109 0.1564 trt:month 1 0.15814 0.15814 22.6900 sp:month 4 0.24445 0.06111 8.7687 trt:sp:month 4 0.19109 0.04777 6.8547 [1]: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzrHpe_fGynadHlpYS1qcGw4WkU [2]: https://i.sstatic.net/IChuZ.png [3]: https://i.sstatic.net/I1aFz.png