st: new package obsofint available from ssc

[Maarten buis <maartenbuis@yahoo.co.uk>]

Thanks to Kit Baum a new package -obsofint- is available from SSC. 
-obsofint- is written by Ronnie Babigumira and me, and is 
intended to help scan a large number of variables for unusual 
observations. These unusual observations are unusual in the sense 
that they either have a much smaller or a much larger value on a 
given variable than the bulk of the data. These observations of 
interest are identified using a criterium that is an adaptation of 
the commonly used Tukey bounds used in for example boxplots. In our 
experience these Tukey bounds flag too many values as extreme 
values if a variable is either skewed or has a spike (a value that 
is very common). The rule used in obsofint is meant to result in 
less false positives in case skewed or spiked variables.

To install it type in Stata: 
ssc install obsofint

-- Maarten

Ps. -obsofint- derives its name from "observations of interest", a
name for unusual observations that we prefer over "outlier", as it
suggests that it is an observation that needs be investigated rather
than an observation that is automatically a "problem".

--------------------------
Maarten L. Buis
Institut fuer Soziologie
Universitaet Tuebingen
Wilhelmstrasse 36
72074 Tuebingen
Germany

http://www.maartenbuis.nl
--------------------------


      

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