This provides a brief introduction to using Stata 8.0 for the dataset analysis. Stata is available on all of the computers in the Kennedy School’s computer lab. If you have a home computer you may want to purchase a copy of Stata from the CMO. Stata is available for Windows98, Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows XP, Windows NT, Macintosh, and UNIX operating systems. The Stata User’s Guide is also available from the CMO.

The commands outlined below assume that you are using Stata Release 8.0 for Windows. Throughout this text, anything appearing in Bold font is a Stata command, whereas anything in red italics is a variable name which you should change for your specific analysis. Menu commands are indicated as, e.g., File | Open, to indicate that you first go to the File menu and then choose the Open option. The Blue Courier is the type of output you should generate. As a shortcut, you can also just copy and paste any of the command lines here directly into your Stata Command window then run.

The windows can be moved about and re?sized to suit your preferences. If you do not see any of these on your version, go to Window and add these until they look roughly like the above.

a. Here the Results window lists the outcome.
b. The Variables window, on the left, lists the names of all the variables included in the shared dataset.
c. You can enter commands in two ways. To start learning the program, you can use the drop down menus, similar to those common in Microsoft programs. This is useful for beginners. Once you become more familiar with the program, you will want to type in commands directly, to save time, using the Command window at the bottom center of the screen. A command tells Stata what to do – e.g, to open a file, to run a regression, to calculate a mean of a variable, etc.
d. The Review window shows a list of all the commands you have already run. (Here, it shows that I have opened a data file.) If you click on a previously?run command in the Review window, it will appear in the Command window and you can edit it or run it again.
OPENING, SAVING, AND CLOSING THE DATA FILE

You will then need to open the data file you have saved. You will need to boost the memory allocated

Download pdf Introduction To Stata 8.0