Thesis and Programming Guide

This page is designed to assist students with the thesis and data analysis using SAS and Stata.

The programming documents contain some overlap but the information is presented in a different context. For example, the SAS Tutorials are designed for students working with SAS for the first time and mirror the statistical methods taught in Quantitative Methods I.

In the majority of Quantitative Methods classes, GPPI professors use SAS rather than Stata as a teaching tool. For an explanation, see this memo. An increasing number of professors use Stata in Quantitative Methods II & III and a substantial proportion of GPPI students apply Stata at some point in conducting data analyses for their thesis.

Feel free to contact me with questions, comments, and/or complaints about the site. Remember, the site is intended to provide support for GPPI students so your input is encouraged and appreciated.

Eric Gardner (eng@georgetown.edu)

Obtaining SAS and Stata

Purchasing a SAS License

Georgetown University holds a SAS license so you can purchase a one-year license for your personal computer for $25 (GoCard only) through Hoya Computing located on the ground floor of St. Mary's Hall on the medical school side of campus.

Purchasing Stata/IC 10 (Note: this is a new version of Stata released June 2007)

Currently, the computers in the GPPI lab have Stata/SE 9 but will soon have Stata/SE 10. If you are purchasing Stata for your own computer, you should buy Stata/IC 10 which is more than sufficient for your programming needs. If you have already purchased Intercooled Stata 9, you can continue to work with it. For details on what's new in Stata 10, click here. Of particular note, might be the changes to the graph editor and saving results.

You can purchase a copy of Stata/IC 10 via their website on the Grad Plans page. You can choose either a one-year ($95) or perpetual ($155) license. These prices were valid as of June 2007. Once your order is processed, you will be directed to pick up the software from the campus representative, Ru San Chen (chenrs@georgetown.edu) who works at the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS) in Car Barn 314.

Thesis

Potential Data Sets for the Thesis (.xls)

This document provides web links and more detailed information in a spreadsheet form on more than 270 data sets and policy sites. The information should be useful for students researching topics and searching for data. Students can search on potential uses (e.g., healthcare, social policy) and name (e.g., organization, dataset name). Web links and descriptions are also included.

GPPI Practicum/Thesis Database

Contains abstracts, data sources, policy areas, and other details for student practicums/theses dating back to 2003. Searchable via keyword.

Also, visit the Georgetown University Social Sciences Data Archive for links to additional data resources. And, while you're on your fishing expedition, check the Federal Government's cleverly named site, FedStats.

Programming

Along with the resources listed below, you can conduct keyword searches in Google or another search engine to track down coding examples and explanations for SAS and Stata.

SAS Review for 1st-Year Students (i.e., students just beginning to apply SAS in Quant)(.pdf)

SAS Review for Thesis-Level Students (.pdf)

SAS tips, techniques and strategies important for working with data in the Quantitative Methods track and for the Thesis. The review for 1st year students brings together and explains elements of SAS you should understand after completing Quantitative Methods I. The review for thesis students expands on some of these strategies and introduces programming techniques more likely seen when working with data for the thesis.

SAS Tutorials

Learning SAS from another perspective. These tutorials provide SAS programming fundamentals within the context of Quantitative Methods I. (.pdf files)

• Introduction for Quantitative Methods I students
• Tutorial 1: The Basics
• Tutorial 2: Understanding Data
• Tutorial 3: SAS Programs, Program Logs, and Data Sets
• Tutorial 4: SAS Procedure Steps
• Tutorial 5: SAS Data Steps and how they work
• Tutorial 6a: Measures of Central Tendency & Dispersion, Nominal and Ordinal Data
• Tutorial 6b: Measures of Central Tendency & Dispersion, Interval-Ratio Data
• Appendix A: SAS Operators
• Appendix B: The Output Delivery System (ODS)
• Appendix C: SAS System Options

Stata & SAS Review: Reporting on Data (.pdf) (New February 2007)

A reflection on Stata and SAS. This document provides students working with Stata in Quant III (Advanced Regression and Program Evaluation Methods) and running regressions for the thesis with basic Stata strategies by mirroring them with parallel SAS code where relevant.

 SAS On-line Documentation Tree for Version 9.1 (.pdf)

Although it might seem baffling, the SAS on-line help guides are a valuable resource. To make it MUCH easier to navigate the SAS 9.1 documentation, the most relevant sections for GPPI students are identified here.

SAS Methods for Combining  Data Sets (.pdf)

The information in this document is taken directly from the SAS help manuals available under SAS Help and Documentation (keywords: merging, concatenating). This document explains the three primary data combining techniques in SAS: Concatenation, Interleaving, and Merging (i.e., match-merging). In Stata, the corresponding commands are APPEND (to concatenate or stack data) and MERGE. See the Stata & SAS review for detailed examples. This document is more relevant to students working with data for the thesis.

Additional SAS & Stata Resources (.pdf)

This document has an annotated list of user-written SAS and Stata manuals which may be useful as you navigate the Quantitative Methods track and the thesis. Links to the on-line SAS and Stata help sites have been included.