A Gentle Introduction to Stata, Fourth Edition

A Gentle Introduction to Stata, Fourth Edition is for people who need to learn Stata but who may not have a strong background in statistics or prior experience with statistical software packages. After working through this book, you will be able to enter, build, and manage a dataset, and perform fundamental statistical analyses. This book is organized like the unfolding of a research project. You begin by learning how to enter and manage data and how to do basic descriptive statistics and graphical analysis. Then you learn how to perform standard statistical procedures from t tests, nonparametric tests, and measures of association through ANOVA, multiple regression, and logistic regression. Readers who have experience with another statistical package may benefit more by reading chapters selectively and referring to this book as needed.

The fourth edition has incorporated numerous changes that were new with Stata 13. Coverage of the marginsplot command has expanded. This simplifies the construction of compelling graphs. There is a new chapter showing how to estimate path models using the sem (structural equation modeling) command. Menus have been updated, and several minor changes and corrections have been included based on suggestions from readers.

Alan Acock is a sociologist and a University Distinguished Professor in the School of Social and Behavioral Health Sciences at Oregon State University. He held the Knudson Chair in Family Research and was also recognized as the Alumni Distinguished Professor based on his work with students. He is the author of Discovering Structural Equation Modeling Using Stata, Revised Edition. He has published more than 150 articles in leading journals across the social and behavioral sciences, including Structural Equation Modeling, Psychological Bulletin, Multivariate Behavioral Research, Journal of Gerontology, Journal of Adolescence, American Journal of Public Health, American Sociological Review, Journal of Marriage and Family, Social Forces, Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Educational and Psychological Measurement, Journal of Politics, Prevention Science, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, and many others. With this broad experience, Acock brings examples from a variety of disciplines.