Statistical Analysis using (STATA) – Foundational Course

About STATA

STATA is a powerful statistical software package used for data analysis, data management, and graphics. The acronym STATA is the short form of “Statistics and Data.”, the software was created under Stata Corp LLC by William Gould and Sean Becketti in the 1980s. It is widely used in health services research, epidemiology, economics, sociology, political science, biomedicine, and other social sciences to analyze large datasets and conduct complex statistical analyses. STATA offers flexibility for users by allowing data analysis through both point-and-click interactions and coding, catering to both beginners who prefer an intuitive interface and advanced users who prefer scripting for more complex tasks

Course details

Purpose

The purpose of a course in STATA is to equip students or professionals with the skills to effectively use the software:

• To Manage and Prepare Data: Learn how to import, clean, manipulate, and reshape datasets to prepare them for analysis.
• To Conduct Statistical Analysis: Understand and apply various statistical methods, including regression, hypothesis testing, and more advanced techniques like time-series analysis or survival analysis.
• To Create Visualizations: Develop the ability to create clear, informative graphs and charts that help interpret and present data findings.
• To Automate and Reproduce Analyses: Master coding in STATA to automate repetitive tasks, write custom scripts, and ensure that analyses can be easily reproduced.
• To Apply Knowledge to Real-World Problems: Use STATA to analyze data sets in real-world contexts, from academic research to business and policy evaluation

Topics

Lesson 1: Review of basic statistical concepts (2 hours)

• Introduction to Statistics
• Classification of Data: Nominal, Ordinal, Interval, Ratio
• Descriptive Statistics: Mean, Median, Mode, Standard Deviation, Variance
• Probability Distributions: Normal, Binomial, Poisson
• Hypothesis Testing: Null and Alternative Hypotheses, p-values, Significance Level
• Confidence Intervals

Lesson 2: General Introduction to the STATA User Interface (2 hours)

• Overview of STATA Windows: Review, Results, Command, Variables, Properties
• Navigating the STATA environment
• Understanding STATA file formats (.dta)
• Setting Preferences and Options
• Importing and exporting data (Excel, CSV, etc.)
• Navigation of Help files and Documentation

Lesson 3: Basic Data Management (2 hours)

• Loading and saving datasets
• Exploring datasets (descriptive commands: describe, summarize, list)
• Creating and modifying variables (generate, replace)
• Handling missing values
• Sorting and filtering data
• Sub-setting data and creating new datasets

Lesson 4: Data Cleaning Techniques (2 hours)

• Identifying and handling outliers
• Recoding variables (using recode, label values, label define)
• Removing duplicates and managing duplicates with duplicates report and duplicates drop
• Handling string variables (conversion, trimming, combining)

Lesson 5: Merging and Reshaping Data (2 hours)

• Merging datasets (merge, append)
• Reshaping datasets (wide to long format and vice versa)
• Combining datasets from different sources (e.g., Excel, CSV, .dta)

Lesson 6: Descriptive Statistics and Data Summarization (2 hours)

• Summary statistics (summarize, tabulate)
• Group-wise summaries and by prefix
• Frequency and cross-tabulations (tabulate, tab1, tab2)
• Descriptive statistics for categorical and continuous variables

Lesson 7: Introduction to Inferential Statistics (2 hours)

• Hypothesis testing basics (t-tests, chi-square tests)
• Confidence intervals
• Introduction to regression analysis (linear regression with regress)

Lesson 8: Linear and Logistic Regression (2 hours)

• Simple and multiple linear regression
• Interpreting regression coefficients
• Logistic regression basics and application (logit, probit)

Lesson 9: Introduction to Graphs in STATA (2 hours)

• Basic graph types (scatterplots, histograms, box plots)
• Customizing graphs (titles, labels, legends)
• Saving and exporting graphs for reports

Lesson 10: Advanced Graphing Techniques (2 hours)

• Creating more complex graphs (line plots, bar charts, combined graphs)
• Customizing graph appearance (colors, markers, axis modifications)
• Using graph editor to refine visualizations

Lesson 11: Writing and Running Do-files (2 hours)

• Introduction to do-files and syntax
• Writing a basic do-file to automate analysis
• Debugging and running do-files
• Saving and documenting analysis in do-files

Deliverables

1. Hands-on assignments will involve

• • Practical Exercises:
  • Data Cleaning and Manipulation Task:
  • Statistical Analysis Assignment:

2. Do-file Submission
3. Data Visualization Project

• • Graphing Assignment:
  • Custom Graphs for Reporting

4. Final Project or Capstone
   • Comprehensive Data Analysis Project: A final project that brings together all the skills learned during the course.
   • Presentation: A brief presentation summarizing the findings of the final project, showcasing the analysis, key results, and graphs.

5. Quizzes and Assessments

• • Knowledge Check Quizzes:
  • Practical Coding Test:

6. Certification of Completion

• • A certificate or formal acknowledgment issued to participants who complete the course, demonstrating their proficiency with STATA and data analysis.

7. Feedback and Course Evaluation

• • Self-reflection: A written reflection on the participant’s learning journey throughout the course, identifying strengths and areas for further development.