Roger Harbord writes (in part):
> --On 16 October 2002 15:26 -0400 "Steichen, Thomas"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
snip
> > The help file for -meta- indicates that it saves the
> following results (copied directly from the help file):
> >
> > Saved values
> > ------------
> >
> > S_1 Theta (fixed)
> > S_2 SE Theta (fixed)
> > S_3 Lower CI Limit (fixed)
> > S_4 Upper CI Limit (fixed)
> > S_5 Asymptotic Z-value (fixed)
> > S_6 Asymptotic p-value (fixed)
> > S_7 Theta (random)
> > S_8 SE Theta (random)
> > S_9 Lower CI Limit (random)
> > S_10 Upper CI Limit (random)
> > S_11 Asymptotic Z-value (random)
> > S_12 Asymptotic p-value (random)
> > S_13 Between-studies Variance, tau^2
> >
> <snip>
>
> Which version of -meta- do you have, or maybe more to the
> point, which version of the help file do you have and where
> did you get it from? The above doesn't appear in the STB43
> (sbe16.2) version:
>
> . net from "http://www.stata.com/stb/stb43/";
> Click on sbe16_2 In the Viewer, click on sbe16_2/meta.hlp
>
> - there's nothing about Saved values. The above global
> macros are created by the sbe16.2 version of -meta- though
> (except I get S_0 rather than S_10).
Roger has, indeed, caught me out here. He is correct, there
is nothing about saved values in the released documentation.
I use meta-analysis fairly frequently and have written some of
the programs in the user-supplied suite of meta-analysis programs.
(In fact, I was involved in some aspects of the -meta- program,
though my name correctly does not appear on the program.)
For that reason, I feel quite adept at modifying, fixing, or
enhancing such code or help files... thus one of the first things
I did after -meta- was released in 1998 was fix (in my copy) this
glaring hole in the documentation. This much later, I simply
forgot that I had done so... after all, documentation of saved
values SHOULD be in help files (this applies to StataCorp help
files also, but is not done!) so it was easy to forget who
put it there.
Further, I had a copy of the pre-release version of what ended
up as sbe16.2, and global S_0 was correctly listed as S_10.
Why it was changed to S_0 in the released version is unclear,
nonetheless, I changed it back to S_10 in _my_ copy to be consistent
with _my_ documentation and the draft version (I assumed the authors
would eventually fix this).
Thus a long explanation for a short story... I was wrong,
I put it in my copy, and my answer is slightly inconsistent with
the released program.
But, you may choose to modify the help file yourself... if you do
so, text:
Saved values
------------
S_1 Theta (fixed)
S_2 SE Theta (fixed)
S_3 Lower CI Limit (fixed)
S_4 Upper CI Limit (fixed)
S_5 Asymptotic Z-value (fixed)
S_6 Asymptotic p-value (fixed)
S_7 Theta (random)
S_8 SE Theta (random)
S_9 Lower CI Limit (random)
S_0 Upper CI Limit (random)
S_11 Asymptotic Z-value (random)
S_12 Asymptotic p-value (random)
S_13 Between-studies Variance, tau^2
would be correct for the released program.
Roger also says:
> I also just noticed that the v7 Stata manuals have an entry
> for [R] meta, which lists the various user-written programs.
> However, if you slavishly follow the example instructions
> given for installing -meta-, you'll end up with an out-of-date
> version of -metap- instead!
I guess one must blame StataCorp for this minor error. They
clearly list in their table STB-43 and sbe16.2 as the appropriate
trail to find the current release of -meta-. Nonetheless, they
use STB48 and sbe28 in their step-by-step installation example,
leading to the initial version of -metap- being installed instead.
I'd bet it is not the only typo in the manual, but surely it is
one of the more minor blemishes (at least my name is spelled
correctly in the table!).
Thanks Roger,
Tom
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