Table 1.

The scenario settings of simulation study

	Mean shift intervention
	No cluster	Cluster
Surfaces type
I. Single-type surface	1. Linear, 2. quadratic, 3. ridge, 4. hillside	1. Linear, 2. hillside
II. Mixed-type surface	1. (Linear, quadratic) 2. (ridge, hillside)	–
Fitting method
Two-stage fitting procedure	1. Linear, 2. hillside	–

There are totally 6, 4, and 2 scenarios in the Single-type surface, Mixed-type surface, and Two-Stage Fitting procedure, respectively. The bracket in the Mixed-type surface scenario indicates the surfaces of intercept and variable x ₁ separately