I need to analyze data on Stata, but it's a new world for me (I've 25 years of SPSS...) All the tutorials I've found on the internet teach us to type commands on Stata to perform the analysis. I'd like something that guided me on using the menus instead, just like I do on SPSS.
My strong advice is that you work with commands and indeed, to do that in do files (open them typing "doedit" or menu>windows) instead of interactively.
If you want to use Stata for research, using commands in do files allows you to A) Interrupt your work whenever you want to and get back to what you were doing. Have a coffee with your friends whenever you like, you can use your dofile to go back to where you were! B) Keep trace of what you do, replicate it, explain it, share it to work with your colleagues. C) Comment what you do and what you find in the same dofile. D) Have all the relevant info to answer reviewers.
Regards from Madrid
But if you really do want to use the menus, many of the videos in youtube refer to them. That's especially true of the videos by the Stata Corp. Maybe that's a nice way to start?
Hello, Andrés!
Thanks for your feedback. It explains why people who use Stata are so focused on commands instead of menus.
As I told in my question, I've 25 years as a heavy user of SPSS. Because of that, menus are so natural to me that I don't even remember that commands exist.
About the videos on YouTube: some of them are a little bit useful, but the others are confusing and don't explain the techniques in a way a new user would feel comfortable.
Thanks again!
Regards from Belo Horizonte, Brazil!
Hello Humberto!
I know that it is not attractive to try to program first. The is something that you can do to gain knowledge. Go to the command bar and type:
sysuse auto
You will open an example database.
Go to the menus:
Statistics > Summaries, tables and tests > Summary and descriptive statistics > Summary Statistics >
... and click OK without choosing anything.
You'll get output, but more importantly, you'll get a line before the output:
. summarize
That's the command!
Now repeat everything, but pick the first variable
You'll get a different output and, right above it:
. summarize prize
That's the command.
Now try directly in the command bar:
summarize make
So if you watch Stata Corp's videos that explain menus, just pay attention to the commands you are getting. This way, you will start building some knowledge on the commands without needing to abbandon windows immediately.
Although I'm pretty sure you'll soon prefer to type
summarize price length foreign
than browsing the menus!
Regards and good luck!
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