Survey methods
Whether your data require a simple weighted adjustment because of differential
sampling rates or you have data from a complex multistage survey, Stata's
survey features can provide you with correct standard errors and confidence
intervals for your inferences.
Simply specify the relevant characteristics of
your sampling design, such as sampling weights (including weights at multiple
stages), clustering (at one, two, or more stages), stratification, and
poststratification. After that, most of Stata's estimation commands can adjust
their estimates to correct for your sampling design.
Multilevel mixed-effects models
Whether the groupings in your data arise in a nested fashion (patients nested
in clinics and clinics nested in regions) or in a nonnested fashion (regions
crossed with occupations), you can fit a multilevel model to account for the
lack of independence within these groups.
Fit models for continuous, binary,
count, ordinal, and survival outcomes. Estimate variances of random intercepts
and random coefficients. Compute intraclass correlations. Predict random
effects. Estimate relationships that are population averaged over the random
effects.
Panel data
Take full advantage of the extra information that panel data provide while
simultaneously handling the peculiarities of panel data. Study the
time-invariant features within each panel, the relationships across panels,
and how outcomes of interest change over time.
Fit linear models or nonlinear
models for binary, count, ordinal, censored, or survival outcomes with
fixed-effects, random-effects, or population-averaged estimators.
Fit linear models with high-dimensional fixed effects. Fit dynamic
models or models with endogeneity. Fit Bayesian panel-data models.
Structural equation modeling (SEM)
Estimate mediation effects, analyze the relationship between an unobserved
latent concept such as depression and the observed variables that measure
depression, model a system with many endogenous variables and correlated
errors, or fit a model with complex relationships among both latent and
observed variables.
Fit models with continuous, binary, count, ordinal,
fractional, and survival outcomes. Even fit multilevel models with groups of
correlated observations such as children within the same schools. Evaluate
model fit. Compute indirect and total effects. Fit models by drawing a path
diagram or using the straightforward command syntax.
Linear, binary, and count regressions
Fit classical linear models of the relationship between a continuous outcome,
such as weight, and the determinants of weight, such as height, diet, and
levels of exercise. If your response is binary (for example, diabetic or
not), ordinal (education level), or count (number of children), don't worry.
Stata has maximum likelihood estimators—logistic, ordered logistic, Poisson,
and many others—that estimate the relationship between such outcomes and
their determinants. A vast array of tools is available to analyze such
models. Predict outcomes and their confidence intervals. Test equality of
parameters or any linear or nonlinear combination of parameters.
Meta-analysis
Combine results of multiple studies to estimate an overall effect. Use
forest plots to visualize results. Use subgroup analysis and
meta-regression to explore study heterogeneity. Use funnel plots and
formal tests to explore publication bias and small-study effects. Use
trim-and-fill analysis to assess the impact of publication bias on
results. Perform cumulative and leave-one-out meta-analysis. Perform
univariate, multilevel, and multivariate meta-analysis. Use the meta suite, or let the Control Panel interface
guide you through your entire meta-analysis.
Multiple imputation
Account for missing data in your sample using multiple imputation. Choose from
univariate and multivariate methods to impute missing values in continuous,
censored, truncated, binary, ordinal, categorical, and count variables.
Then, in a single step, estimate parameters using the imputed datasets, and combine
results. Fit a linear model, logit model, Poisson model, hierarchical model,
survival model, or one of the many other supported models. Use the mi command,
or let the Control Panel interface guide you through your entire MI analysis.
Adjusted predictions, contrasts, and interactions
Adjusted predictions and contrasts let you analyze the relationships between
your outcome variable and your covariates, even when that outcome is binary,
count, ordinal, or categorical. Compute adjusted predictions with covariates
set to interesting or representative values.
Or compute marginal means for
each level of a categorical covariate. Make comparisons of the adjusted
predictions or marginal means using contrasts. If you have multilevel or
panel data and random effects, these effects are automatically integrated out
to provide marginal (that is, population-averaged) estimates. After fitting
almost any model in Stata, analyze the effect of covariate interactions, and
easily create plots to visualize those interactions.
Survival analysis
Analyze duration outcomes—outcomes measuring the time to an event
such as failure or death—using Stata's specialized tools for
survival analysis. Account for the complications inherent in survival
data, such as sometimes not observing the event (right-, left-, and
interval-censoring), individuals entering the study at differing times
(delayed entry), and individuals who are not continuously observed
throughout the study (gaps). You can estimate and plot the probability
of survival over time. Or model survival as a function of covariates
using Cox, Weibull, lognormal, and other regression models. Predict
hazard ratios, mean survival time, and survival probabilities. Do you
have groups of individuals in your study? Adjust for within-group
correlation with a random-effects or shared-frailty model. If you have
many potential covariates, use lasso cox and
elasticnet cox for
model selection and prediction.
Causal inference
Estimate experimental-style causal effects from observational data. With
Stata's treatment-effects estimators, you can use a potential-outcomes
(counterfactuals) framework to estimate, for instance, the effect of
family structure on child development or the effect of unemployment on
anxiety. Fit models for continuous, binary, count, fractional, and
survival outcomes with binary or multivalued treatments using
inverse-probability weighting (IPW), propensity-score matching,
nearest-neighbor matching, regression adjustment, or doubly robust
estimators. If the assignment to a treatment is not independent of the
outcome, you can use an endogenous treatment-effects estimator. In the
presence of group and time effects, you can use
difference-in-differences (DID) and triple-differences (DDD) estimators.
In the presence of high-dimensional covariates, you can use lasso. If
causal effects are mediated through another variable, use causal
mediation with mediate to
disentangle direct and indirect effects.
Time series
Handle the statistical challenges inherent to time-series
data—autocorrelations, common factors, autoregressive conditional
heteroskedasticity, unit roots, cointegration, and much more.
Analyze univariate time series using ARIMA, ARFIMA, Markov-switching models, ARCH and
GARCH models, and unobserved-components models. Analyze multivariate time series using VAR,
structural VAR, instrumental-variables (proxy) structural VAR, VEC, multivariate GARCH,
dynamic-factor models, and state-space models.
Compute and graph impulse responses. Test for unit roots. Perform Bayesian time-series analysis.
IRT (item response theory)
Explore the relationship between unobserved latent characteristics such as
hospital satisfaction and the probability of responding positively to
questionnaire items related to satisfaction. Or explore the relationship
between unobserved health and self-reported responses to questions about
mobility, independence, and other health-affected activities. IRT can be used
to create measures of such unobserved traits or place individuals on a scale
measuring the trait. It can also be used to select the best items for
measuring a latent trait. IRT models are available for binary, graded, rated,
partial-credit, and nominal response items. Visualize the relationships using
item characteristic curves, and measure overall test performance using test
information functions.
Bayesian analysis
Fit Bayesian regression models using one of the Markov chain Monte Carlo
(MCMC) methods. You can choose from various supported models or even
program your own. Extensive tools are available to check convergence,
including multiple chains. Compute posterior mean estimates and credible
intervals for model parameters and functions of model parameters. You
can perform both interval- and model-based hypothesis testing. Compare
models using Bayes factors. Compute model fit using posterior predictive
values and generate predictions. If you want to account for model
uncertainty in your regression model, use
Bayesian model averaging.
Automated reporting and customizable tables
Stata is designed for reproducible research, including the ability to
create dynamic documents incorporating your analysis results. Create
Word or PDF files, populate Excel worksheets with results and format
them to your liking, and mix Markdown, HTML, Stata results, and Stata
graphs, all from within Stata. Create tables that compare
regression results or summary statistics, use default styles
or apply your own, and export your tables to Word, PDF, HTML, LaTeX,
Excel, or Markdown and include them in your reports.
Jupyter Notebook with Stata
Jupyter Notebook is widely used by
researchers and scientists to share their ideas and results for collaboration
and innovation. It is an easy-to-use web application that allows you to
combine code, visualizations, mathematical formulas, narrative text, and other
rich media in a single document (a "notebook") for interactive computing and
developing. You can invoke Stata and Mata from Jupyter Notebook with the
IPython (interactive Python) kernel. This
means you can combine the capabilities of both Python and Stata in a single
environment to make your work easily reproducible and shareable with others.
As a Stata user for nearly 25 years, I've always appreciated its clean, consistent interface and the peace of mind that comes from StataCorp's rigorous testing and commitment to accuracy. Now with the past few releases, Stata can do virtually anything required by the practicing statistician — it can fit an enormous range of models used throughout the biological and social sciences and has powerful tools for examining and presenting the results of these models. And with -ml- and Mata (Stata's bytecode-compiled, object-oriented, C-like matrix programming language), it's easy to implement new models when necessary. Stata is the one piece of software I couldn't do without.
— Phil Schumm
Senior Statistician and Director of the Research Computing Group
in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of
Chicago
Intuitive and easy to use.
Once you learn the syntax of one estimator, graphics command,
or data management tool, you will effortlessly understand the rest.
Accuracy and reliability.
Stata is extensively and continually tested. Stata's tests produce
approximately 5.8 million lines of output. Each of those lines is
compared against known-to-be-accurate results
across editions of Stata and every operating system Stata supports to
ensure accuracy and reproducibility.
One package. No modules.
When you buy Stata, you obtain
everything for your statistical,
graphical, and data analysis needs. You do not need to buy separate modules
or import your data to specialized software.
Write your own Stata programs.
You can easily write your own Stata programs and commands. Share them
with others or use them to simplify your work. Utilize Stata's
do-files, ado-files, and Mata: Stata's own advanced programming
language that adds direct support for matrix programming. You can also
access and benefit from the thousands of existing Stata
community-contributed programs.
Extensive documentation.
Stata offers 35 manuals with more than 18,000 pages of PDF documentation
containing detailed examples, in-depth discussions, references to relevant literature,
and methods and formulas. Stata's documentation is a great place to learn about
Stata and the statistics, graphics, data management, and data science tools you
are using for your research.
Top-notch technical support.
Stata's technical support is known for their prompt, accurate,
detailed, and clear responses. People answering your questions have master's
and PhD degrees in relevant areas of research.
Join us for one of our free live webinars. Ready. Set. Go Stata shows you how to quickly get started manipulating, graphing, and analyzing your data. Or, go deeper in one of our special-topics webinars.
Stata's YouTube has over 300 videos with a dedicated playlist of methodologies important to public health professionals. And they are a convenient teaching aid in the classroom.
Get started quickly at using Stata effectively, or even learn how to perform rigorous time-series, panel-data, or survival analysis, all from the comfort of you home or office. NetCourses make it easy.
Stata Press offers books with clear, step-by-step examples that make teaching easier and that enable students to learn and researchers in public health to implement the latest best practices in analysis.