For my first assignment using Stata, I spent four or five hours trying to present my output in a “professional” form. The most creative method I heard about in class the next day was to copy the contents into Excel, create page breaks, and then copy into Word.
SPSS makes it so easy to copy tables and graphs into another document. Why can’t Stata be easy?
Anyone who has used Stata has gone through this and many of you still are. No worries, help is on the way! (more…)
We’ve already discussed using macros in Stata to simplify and shorten code.
Another great tool in your coding tool belt is loops. Loops allow you to run the same command for several variables at one time without having to write separate code for each variable.
This discussion could go on for pages and pages because there is much you can do with a loop. (more…)
We finished the last article about Stata with the confusing coding of:
local continuous educat exper wage age
I admit it looks like a foreign language. Let me explain how simple it is to understand. (more…)
Most statistical software packages use a spreadsheet format for viewing the data. This helps you get a feeling for what you will be working with, especially if the data set is small.
But what if your data set contains numerous variables and hundreds or thousands of observations? There is no way you can get warm and fuzzy by browsing through a large data set.
To help you get a good feel for your data you will need to use your software’s command or syntax editor to write a series of code for reviewing your data. Sounds complicated.
Like many people with graduate degrees, I have used a number of statistical software packages over the years.
Through work and school I have used Eviews, SAS, SPSS, R, and Stata.
Some were more difficult to use than others but if you used them often enough you would become proficient to take on the task at hand (though some packages required greater usage of George Carlin’s 7 dirty words).
There was always one caveat which determined which package I used.
Someone recently asked me if they need to learn R. In responding, it struck me that this is another way that learning a stat package is like learning a new language.
The metaphor is extremely helpful for deciding when and how to learn a new stat package, and to keep you going when the going gets rough. (more…)