On 8/7/08, Nick Cox <[email protected]> wrote:
> Sorry, this isn't clear to me: Why is use of a Stata file by two people any more problematic than use of (say) an Access or Excel file?
Because when you open a file in Excel that somebody else is changing,
you get a proper warning and can't destroy the other's work.
Sergiy
>
> Nick
> [email protected]
>
> Eduardo Palencia Herrej�n
>
> You are probably right, Nick, but when data must be introduced by a
> couple of persons, as is the case, direct data entry into the same
> Stata file becomes problematic. I think the best solution could be a
> friendly form (Access? Epidata?), checking the data at its entry, and
> saving it in a file to be imported to Stata using a do file.
>
> The data I need to analize are quite simple: most of them are daily
> counts of activity in an ICU.
>
> 2008/8/5 Nick Cox <[email protected]>:
>
> > First off, "data entry" may not mean exactly the same to all.
> >
> > Does that mean that you -- or someone else -- is typing data directly
> > into a program?
> > (i.e. data do not already exist as some file or files)
> >
> > Does that mean that data values are checked at time of input and users
> > are prompted immediately for unacceptable values? If the latter, then
> > you may well need something outside Stata.
> >
> > Otherwise, my position on this on this is eccentric: I like using Stata
> > for data entry into Stata. I then have no problems of file readability,
> > conversion, etc.
> >
> > A simple example is trying to re-create problems mentioned on Statalist
> > with example data that people give in their postings. Some combination
> > of data editor, do-file editor, and -split- usually gets their examples
> > into Stata without undue effort.
>
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>
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