Soc

Soc. 303

Assignment #1: Installing and Running Stata Quest

Due: Monday, Jan. 18

The purpose of this assignment is simply to get Stata up and running, and to make sure you know how to do basic tasks in it.

First, you have to install it. If installing on your own computer, just follow the directions in the book (Ch. 1). You can also install it on your AFS networked space from one of the computer clusters. To do this:

Put the Stata quest disk in the a: drive.
From the start menu, hit "Run."
type a:setup and <enter>.
The first dialog will ask you where to install it. The default will either be C:\wstata or D:\wstata. Simply change it to H:\wstata and hit OK.
The installation program will respond with a message about not being allowed to run it on a network. This message is not accurate--hit OK and proceed.
When it asks you for the working directory, it should say H:\sqdata. Hit OK.
Eventually, it will tell you the installation is complete. Hit OK. Stata Quest will now appear in your start menu.

To start Stata Quest, just select it from the start menu.

Now I want you to do all of the things we did in class. Open a data set, record a log, run a simple analysis, create a graph, export the graph to a word processor, close the log, put the log output into the word processor, and print it out.

First start up Stata Quest.

To start your log:

Hit the log button and then type a filename for your output. It will be saved by default in your working directory (in my case, H:\sqdata). I chose the filename ass1.log. Then hit open. A log window will appear on your screen. You don't ordinarily want that on top, so just click in the title bar of the RESULTS window to bring it back on top. Now your log is recording everything you do.

To Open the file gsssurv.dta:

Hit File: Open.

Hit gsssurv.dta, Open.

The list of variables now appears in the VARIABLES window.

Examine the data.

In the command bar, type summ and <enter>.

This will give you the means and standard deviations of all variables.

Look at age in more detail.

Type summ age, detail and <enter>.

Now let's recode age into three categories.

tab age <enter>.

recode age 18/30=1 31/60=2 61/max=3 <enter>.

tab age <enter>.

Now examine education and income by age

sort age<enter>.

by age: tab income <enter>.

by age: tab educ <enter>.

Make a graph and export to word processor.

hist age <enter>.

Edit: Copy Graph.

Start up your word processor and hit paste.

Close the log.

log close <enter>.

Exit the progam.

File: Exit (it will ask if you want to save changes, say no).

Open the log file in your word processor by hitting open, going to your H:\sqdata directory, and opening ass1.log. (use whatever filenames and directories you are using).

Go to the bottom of the document, copy your graph in from the other window you should have open, and save/print it as you normally would using your word processor.

Turn in your print out

Don't forget to add your name to the printout!