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Re: st: do-file hygeine
In my opinion, more fundamental than the mechanics of managing
do-files is the philosophy that your work should be replicable by
another researcher in the sense that if she were to use the same data
and methods. In the specific case of Stata, that would ideally mean
the same dataset, do-files, and programs could be used to create
exactly the same results, including such niceties as using the -set
seed- command, but the replication principle goes far beyond that.
A side benefit of this philosophy is that it may force you to be more
explicit and thoughtful about your data analysis decisions.
For a nice discussion of replication in the social sciences, see Gary
King, "Replication, Replication," PS: Political Science and Politics,
followed by comments from nineteen authors and a response, Vol.
XXVIII, No. 3 (September, 1995): pp. 443-499 and
http://gking.harvard.edu/projects/repl.shtml .
David
At 11:08 AM -0700 9/27/08, Michael McCulloch wrote:
I'd appreciate any pointers toward good do-file hygeine, i.e.
management practices to maximize good record keeping, with resulting
least likelihood of overlooking important details.
--
David Radwin // [email protected]
Office of Student Research, University of California, Berkeley
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