For those interested in how pseudo random number generators work, I just wrote something on Statalist which you can see in the Statalist archives by clicking the link even if you do not subscribe:
http://www.stata.com/statalist/archive/2012-10/msg01129.html
To remind you, I’ve been writing about how to use random-number generators in parts 1, 2, and 3, and I still have one more posting I want to write on the subject. What I just wrote on Statalist, however, is about how random-number generators work, and I think you will find it interesting.
To find out more about Statalist, see
Statalist
How to successfully ask a question on Statalist
I just got back from the 2012 Stata Conference in San Diego where I gave a talk on Psychometric Analysis Using Stata and from the 2012 American Psychological Association Meeting in Orlando. Stata’s structural equation modeling (SEM) builder was popular at both meetings and I wanted to show you how easy it is to use. If you are not familiar with the basics of SEM, please refer to the references at the end of the post. My goal is simply to show you how to use the SEM builder assuming that you already know something about SEM. If you would like to view a video demonstration of the SEM builder, please click the play button below: Read more…
StataCorp now provides free tutorial videos on StataCorp’s YouTube channel,
http://www.youtube.com/user/statacorp
There are 24 videos providing 1 hour 51 minutes of instructional entertainment: Read more…
The topic for today is drawing random samples with replacement. If you haven’t read part 1 and part 2 of this series on random numbers, do so. In the series we’ve discussed that Read more…
Last time I told you that Stata’s runiform() function generates rectangularly (uniformly) distributed random numbers over [0, 1), from 0 to nearly 1, and to be precise, over [0, 0.999999999767169356]. And I gave you two formulas,
- To generate continuous random numbers between a and b, use
generate double u = (b–a)*runiform() + a
The random numbers will not actually be between a and b: they will be between a and nearly b, but the top will be so close to b, namely 0.999999999767169356*b, that it will not matter.
- To generate integer random numbers between a and b, use Read more…
I want to start a series on using Stata’s random-number function. Stata in fact has ten random-number functions: Read more…
Stata 12’s new import excel command can help you easily import real-world Excel files into Stata. Excel files often contain header and footer information in the first few and last few rows of a sheet, and you may not want that information loaded. Also, the column labels used in the sheet are invalid Stata variable names and therefore cannot be loaded. Both of these issues can be easily solved using import excel. Read more…
There have recently been occasional questions on precision and storage types on Statalist despite all that I have written on the subject, much of it posted in this blog. I take that as evidence that I have yet to produce a useful, readable piece that addresses all the questions researchers have.
So I want to try again. This time I’ll try to write the ultimate piece on the subject, making it as short and snappy as possible, and addressing every popular question of which I am aware—including some I haven’t addressed before—and doing all that without making you wade with me into all the messy details, which I know I have a tendency to do. Read more…
We recently had a contest on our Facebook page. To enter, contestants posted their favorite Stata command, feature, or just a post telling us why they love Stata. Contestants then asked their friends, colleagues, and fellow Stata users to vote for their entry by ‘Like’-ing the post. The prize, a copy of Stata/MP 12 (8-core).
The response was overwhelming! We enjoyed reading all the reasons why users love Stata so much, we wanted to share them with you.
The contest question was:
Do you have a favorite command or feature in Stata? What about a memorable experience when using the software? Post your favorite command, feature, or experience in the comments section of this post. Then, get your friends to “like” your comment. The person with the most “likes” by March 13, 2012, wins. The winner will receive a single-user copy of Stata/MP8 12 with PDF documentation.
We had many submissions with multiple “likes”. The winning submissions are: Read more…
Some of our users have asked about the way predictions are computed after fitting their models with arima. Those users report that they cannot reproduce the complete set of forecasts manually when the model contains MA terms. They specifically refer that they are not able to get the exact values for the first few predicted periods. The reason for the difference between their manual results and the forecasts obtained with predict after arima is the way the starting values and the recursive predictions are computed. While Stata uses the Kalman filter to compute the forecasts based on the state space representation of the model, users reporting differences compute their forecasts with a different estimator that is based on the recursions derived from the ARIMA representation of the model. Both estimators are consistent but they produce slightly different results for the first few forecasting periods.
When using the postestimation command predict after fitting their MA(1) model with arima, some users claim that they should be able to reproduce the predictions with Read more…