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From | Richard Moverare <richard.moverare@gmail.com> |
To | statalist <statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu> |
Subject | st: Workflow and file organisation |
Date | Mon, 11 Jul 2011 15:19:54 +0200 |
Hi! I am spending a few summer days reading Scott Long's book Workflow for data analysis using Stata. There are a lot of good suggestions there and the book is really worth reading. Of course, I am now considering revising my workflow. Long recommends using one folder that keeps all material for a specific project, and there having a folder for posted materials and a folder for work material. I have used another strategy where I have all my data in a special folder. This have some drawbacks, but on the other hand I see a few advantages as well: 1) I have many large files that I use for several projects and I don't really like to have multiple copies of them (as Long's suggestions would lead to) and 2) I can more easily find all my data on, say regional GDP figures, without going through all my project files. On the other hand, if I change something in my datasets, I might not see what this will lead to when it comes to replicability of the different projects. So how about all you researchers out there, how do you organize your datasets and do-files? Please share your experiences. And, as mentioned, do read the book, it is really worth it. All the best, Richard * * For searches and help try: * http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search * http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq * http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/