STATA Training Session 1

Introduction to STATA
Sun Li Centre for Academic Computing lsun@smu.edu.sg

Outline
Computing Resources

Getting Started with STATA

Running STATA

Datasets in STATA
Data Management with STATA Exercise 1 Data Descriptions & Simple Graphs Exercise 2

Download Training Slides , data and Syntax: http://research2.smu.edu.sg/CAC/StatisticalComputing/Wiki/T raining%20Slides%20and%20Syntax.aspx

Computing Resources
STATA is a statistical package for managing, analyzing, and graphing data. has both command and menu-driven interface has cross-platform compatibility: Windows, Unix, and Mac. has three flavors:
the standard Intercooled STATA (2047 variables) the more limited Small STATA (99 variables) the extended STATA/SE (32766 variables).

Computing Resources
CAC Computing Resources for STATA users Windows:
STATA/SE version 10.0 10-user network perpetual license Installation guide

(http://research2.smu.edu.sg/CAC/StatisticalComputing/Wiki/STATASoftware Questions.aspx)

Linux CAC Beowulf Cluster: STATA/SE version 10.0 Unlimited users About CAC Beowulf Cluster: (http://research2.smu.edu.sg/CAC/HPC/Wiki/MAIN.aspx)

New features in STATA 10.0 (http://www.stata.com/stata10)

Getting Started

Getting Started

Review box

Variable window

Results window

Command line

Getting Started
Getting help in STATA
Help menu:
contents : for a list of command categories & language syntax help : for a STATA command with examples search: to search help by keywords

From command line:

help list

search logistic models net search multilevel model

User-written programs SJ, STB, STATAlist, and others:

help net_mnu

Getting Started
Website resources: The STATA website: http://www.stata.com
The STATA journal reviewed papers, regular columns, user-written

software: http://www.stata-journal.com/ STATA FAQ : http://www.stata.com/support/faqs STATA User Support : http://www.stata.com/support Books: http://www.stata.com/bookstore/statabooks.html

CAC STATA support: Website:

http://research2.smu.edu.sg/CAC/StatisticalComputing/Wiki/STATA.aspx

Contact: For statistical consultation: Sun Li: lsun@smu.edu.sg For software installation: TAN SuhWen: swtan@smu.edu.sg

Running STATA
Files in STATA Commands and Output STATA Variable Definitions

Missing Values in STATA

Expressions and Functions Memory Consideration

Running STATA
Files in STATA
.dta STATA dataset STATA can read and write from/to ASCII files, such as Excel files.
.do STATA do-file, command file Do files can be edited and displayed by text editor, like Notepad. .log, .smcl STATA log file, output file Log files document the commands and analysis results displayed in Result Window, including error messages. Log files (.log) can be edited and displayed by text editor.

.gph STATA graph file

Running STATA
Commands and Output
Command prompt driven in:
Batch mode: do-file Interactive mode: command line E.g.: verinst -- verifying version and installation of STATA

Running STATA
To save results: log-files
File -> Log -> Begin..., View..., or Close. .smcl or .log extension. Record everything in Results Window, including commands, results, error

messages, etc. If the file already exists, another dialog opens to allow you to decide whether to overwrite the file with new output or to append new output to the existing file. From command: cd // list current working directory cd D:\lsun // change working directory to be D:\lsun dir // list files under the current working directory

Running STATA
STATA Variable Definitions
Variable names 1-32 characters: recommend to use 8 characters Valid character: letters a-z, numbers 0-9 and underscore _ Name must be started with a letter (or underscore, but discouraged because STATA-generated variables start with an underscore.) Case-sensitive: lowercase or uppercase letters
Variable types
String (Storage bytes: Str1 to Str80 Str244 in SE) Numeric (categorical, continuous)

Running STATA
Format of numeric variables Numeric formula: %w.dg; %w.df; %w.de w: the total width, including period and decimals d: number of decimals
Format General Fixed Formula Example 2 1 1 1.41 1.414e+00 1,000 1000 1000 1000.00 1.000e+03 10,000,000 1e+07 10000000 1.00e+07 1.000e+07

%w.dg %w.df

%9.0g %9.0f %9.2f

Exponential

%w.de

%10.3e

Running STATA
Missing Values in STATA
Missing values are created in input or import when a numeric field is empty;

or by invalid calculation, e.g. division by zero.

System missing value is shown as a (period). Or a period followed by a

letter, such as . a, . b, etc.

Missing values are interpreted as a very large positive number with:

. < . a < . b < etc This can lead to mistakes in logical expressions.

Running STATA
Expressions and Functions Operators
Arithmetic ^ * / power multiplication division > < >= Relational greater than less than > or equal ! ~ | Help command: help functions Logical not not or

+ -

addition subtraction

<= == !=
~=

< or equal equal not equal

not equal

&

and

Running STATA
Memory Consideration When your dataset is very large, you may consider to:
Set the size of memory: set memory Set the maximum number of variables: set maxvar Set the maximum dimension of matrices: set matsize

e.g. memory set memory 64m

Parameter Default 10M Min 500K Max

memory

maxvar
matsize

5,000
400

2,047
10

32,766
11,000

Getting started: Q & A

Q1: Is there a way to stop Result Window breaking output into pages, i.e. how to get rid of this more message and let Result Window roll to the last line of output? Hint: command help set to understand system parameters

Q2: Why do I get the error message no room to add more observations even after I reset STATA memory to load my data set?
Hint: Two important considerations: 1) Make sure that you allocate an amount of memory that is larger than the file that you are using. Stata will need the extra room to perform any commands or calculations. 2 Make sure that you do not allocate too much memory because your computer will not have enough memory (RAM) left to perform other tasks.

Datasets in STATA
Starting Point A Rectangular Matrix Data Input and Output Edit Data Properties

Variable Management
Data Reorganization Date and Time Values in STATA

Datasets in STATA
Starting Point: A Rectangular Matrix

X 11 X 12 X 13 ... X 1K
N observations

X 21 X 22 X 23 ... X 2 K ... ... ... ... ... X N 1 X N 2 X N 3 ... X NK

K variables

Datasets in STATA
Data Input and Output
Load STATA-format dataset:

use [varlist] [if] [in] [using] [filename] [, clear ]

Save data in memory to file:

save [filename] [, save_options]

Clean dataset from memory:

clear
Note:
STATA is case-sensitive. All STATA commands are lowercase. STATA allows only one dataset at one time in memory.

Datasets in STATA
varlist : a list of variables with blanks in between.
var1 var1 var2 var3 var* *var var1-var3 just one variable three variables variables starting with var variables ending with var var1, var2 and var3

if : conditional language
if mpg>40 if mpg>40 & income==70 if mpg>40 | mpg <10

in : command in range in 1/10 in 10/l in 1(2)9

from obs 1 to 10 from obs 10 to the last obs 1, 3, 5, 7, 9

Datasets in STATA
Import dataset of other formats
Stata can import tab-delimited ASCII text files directly.

Excel can write tab-delimited ASCII text files choose FileSave AsSave as type: Text (tab delimited)
Import text file into STATA

Choose FileImportASCII data created by a spreadsheet

Datasets in STATA
Example
sysuse auto, clear save auto, replace describe browse edit
//open system dataset auto.dta and clear any dataset in memory if any //save the data in memory to working directory and replace if any //describe the dataset //open data browser

//open data editor

Datasets in STATA
Edit Data Properties
generate x=price/mpg rename x priceunit label variable priceunit "price per mpg list priceunit in 1/10
//create new variable from algorithm //rename variable //label variable //list first 10 obs for the variable priceunit

Edit variable properties from Data Editor in edit mode

Data Management with STATA

Variable Management
recode price (10000/max=5 "10000+") /// (6000/10000=4 "6000-9999") (5000/6000=3 "5000-5999") /// (4000/5000=2 "4000-4999") (min/4000=1 "-4000") , generate (pricegrp) label var pricegrp price group d pricegrp codebook pricegrp recode pricegrp (1/2 = 1 "-5000") /// (3/4=2 "5000-9999") (5=3 "10000+"), generate (pricegrp2) codebook pricegrp pricegrp2 save auto, replace

Data Management with STATA

generate x="F replace x="M" in 20/l encode x, generate (xcode) d x xcode browse x xcode drop x xcode
//generate a new variable with value = F

//replace value of x =M from obs 20 to the last

//convert string variable x to be numeric and save it to a new var

Data Management with STATA

Data Reorganization
sort foreign by foreign: summarize price
bysort foreign: summarize price
//sort dataset by variable foreign
//descriptive statistics of price by foreign group //alternative way Note: sort only sorts in ascending order. To sort descending:

gsort price -mpg

keep price pricegrp foreign keep in 1/50 drop if price < 4000 save price, replace
//keep the three variables and drop the rest //keep the first 50 obs //drop obs if price < 4000 //save it into a new dataset

Data Management with STATA

dir use hsmale, clear codebook gender
use hsfemale, clear codebook gender append using hsmale codebook gender save hsappend, replace append : to combine the information from two files with the same variables but different obs.

Data Management with STATA

dir use hsdem, clear sort id save, replace use hstest, clear sort id merge id using hsdem list save hsmerge tab _merge
Note: Both files must be sorted beforehand by matching key (id in the example above), and the matching key must have the same name in both datasets.
merge : To combine the information from two

files with different information about the same obs.

Data Management with STATA

Date and Time Values in STATA
sysuse sp500 d list date in 1/10 generate year1=year(date) generate month1=month(date) d date year1 month1
How STATA records dates and times: Dates and times are called %t values. %t values are numerical and integral. The integral value records the number of time units that have passed from 1960.

Data Management with STATA

generate year2=yofd(date) generate month2=mofd(date)

d date year1 month1 year2 month2 list date year1 year2 month1 month2 in 1

Data Management: Q & A

Q1: Why does my merge produce a dataset with too many observations? Q2: How do I create dummy variables? Q3: How can I list, drop, and keep a consecutive set of variables without typing the names individually? Q4: Why does my do-file or ado-file produce different results every time I run it? Q5: How do I deal with multiple responses? http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/data/

Exercise 1

Brief Introduction of Graphics

Title: Figure 1
Subtitle: The anatomy of a graph
40

Plot area

Y-axis title

10

20

30

2,000

3,000 X-axis title

4,000

5,000

Legend
first legend
Note: This is the outer region or background

second legend

Brief Introduction of Graphics

sysuse auto, clear twoway (scatter mpg weight if foreign==0, msymbol(diamond) mcolor(green)) (scatter mpg weight if foreign==1, msymbol(diamond) mcolor(red)), title(Title: Figure 1) subtitle(Subtitle:The anatomy of a graph) ytitle(Y-axis title) xtitle(X-axis title) note(Note:This is the outer region or background) legend(title(Legend) label(1 first legend) label(2 second legend)) text(35 3400 "Plot area")

Data Description & Simple Graphs

Describing Datasets
use auto, clear describe

Data Description & Simple Graphs

Describing Variables
codebook summarize price mpg weight length summarize price mpg, detail bysort foreign: summarize price mpg
Command summarize: provides descriptive statistics with option for details.

Data Description & Simple Graphs

hist weight, frequency normal hist weight, frequency normal start(750) width(250) label(1000(500)5000)
15

Frequency

10

Frequency

2,000

3,000 Weight (lbs.)

4,000

5,000

10

15

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500 3,000 Weight (lbs.)

3,500

4,000

4,500

5,000

Data Description & Simple Graphs

graph box mpg graph box mpg, over(foreign) graph bar (mean) mpg trunk, over(pricegrp) /// legend(label(1 "mpg") label(2 "trunk")) /// blabel(bar, position(inside) format(%9.1f) color(white))
25
40
26.2 22.5

20

20.6

20.4

30

15

16.6 15.4 14.5 12.8 15.0

10

20

10.5

10

Domestic

Foreign

-4000

4000-4999

5000-5999 mpg

6000-9999 trunk

10000+

Data Description & Simple Graphs

Tabulating Data
tab1 foreign pricegrp tab2 foreign pricegrp tab2 foreign pricegrp, row column
Command tab1: provides one-way frequency table.
Command tab2: provides contingency table.

Data Description & Simple Graphs

tab1 foreign, summarize(price) tabstat price mpg, by(foreign) tabstat price mpg, stat(n mean sd p25 p50 p75) by(foreign)
Command tab1: tabulates descriptive statistics for continuous variables. Command tabstat: displays table of summary statistics.

Data Description & Simple Graphs

graph pie, over (pricegrp) graph pie, over(pricegrp) plabel(_all percent, color(white)) by(foreign)
Domestic Foreign

15.38%

13.46%

9.091% 18.18%

11.54% 31.82% 18.18%

17.31%
-4000 5000-5999 10000+ 4000-4999 6000-9999

42.31%

22.73%

-4000 5000-5999 10000+

Graphs by Car type

4000-4999 6000-9999

Graphics: Q & A
http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/graphics/

Exercise 2

Next Session
Statistical Analysis
17 Oct Friday, 9.30am-12pm
Training Room @ Library Level 5
Data Description And Simple Inference
Group Comparison And Correlation General Linear Regression

Logistic Model
Binary Logistic Model Ordinal Logistic Model

Multinomial Logistic Model