st: sample

["Hans J. Baumgartner" <hbaumgartner@diw.de>]

Dear statalist,

Has anybody on the list some experience to share on drawing a random sample?

How important is it that the data is not sorted before the sample is 
drawn? Which mistakes can be made? Etc.

I am using the following command:

set seed 123456789
sample 4000, count

What is the set seed making really and which impact has the number I am 
setting?

Thanks for all shared experiences on this.
Hans

--
Hans J. Baumgartner DIW Berlin
German Institute for Economic Research
Dept. Public Economics
K�nigin-Luise-Str. 5; 14195 Berlin; Germany
Tel.: +49/30/89789-307
Fax.: +49/30/89789-114
http://www.diw.de
http://www.hansbaumgartner.de

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