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Re: st: margins dydx for logit model with interaction terms
From
Richard Williams <[email protected]>
To
[email protected], [email protected]
Subject
Re: st: margins dydx for logit model with interaction terms
Date
Fri, 10 Aug 2012 13:48:41 -0500
At 09:36 AM 8/10/2012, David Quinn wrote:
Thanks for that article, Richard. Very helpful. I now understand how
much of an improvement the factor notation is.
Quick follow-up question, related to the topic:
Is there any way that you can use the -margins- command to instruct
Stata to calculate the discrete change between two specific values of
the predictor of interest? In other words, if I had a three-category
ordinal predictor variable, and I wanted to calculate the discrete
change in probability between the lowest (1) and highest (3) value of
this variable (rather than a one-unit change from the baseline), can I
use the -margins, dydx()- command to set the two values between which
I want to calculate the discrete change?
Are you treating the ordinal variable as continuous or discrete? If
discrete, i.e. if you are saying something like i.ordvar in the logit
command, you will get 2 marginal effects, one of which will be the
difference between 2 and 1, the other of which will be the difference
between 3 and 1.
I guess I could just use -margins- to find the predicted probabilities
at each of the two above values, and then use -lincom- to assess the
size, direction, and statistical significance of the difference in
probability between those two values. But I'm wondering if -margins,
dydx()- can do this all by itself.
On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 5:50 PM, Richard Williams
<[email protected]> wrote:
> At 03:32 PM 8/9/2012, David Quinn wrote:
>>
>> Thanks, Richard. I did not use factor variable notation. Hence,
>> that's why I also set the interactions at specific values in the
>> margins command. Is there a reason to use the factor notation
>> instead?
>
>
> Yes. You want to get the correct results. ;-) See
>
> http://www.nd.edu/~rwilliam/stats/Margins01.pdf
>
> There is also an article in the current Stata Journal that expands on the
> above. You can probably do it without factor variables, but the odds are
> much greater you will make a mistake.
>
>
>
>> I think that Stata is interpreting the "atmeans" part of the margins
>> command as setting all variables at their means, including the
>> variable of interest (the one placed in parentheses after dydx).
>> Perhaps what I need to do is remove the "atmeans" part, and instead
>> include the control variable (X4) in the -at- specification and set it
>> at its mean value.
>>
>> --Dave
>>
>> On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 4:20 PM, Richard Williams
>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>> > At 11:30 AM 8/9/2012, David Quinn wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Hello,
>> >>
>> >> I am estimating a logit model as such: Y=X1 + X2 + X3 + X4 + X1*X3 +
>> >> X2*X3.
>> >
>> >
>> > What was the actual logit command? Did you use factor variable notation?
>> > If
>> > not -margins- will assume x1 and x2 are continuous rather than
>> > dichotomous.
>> > Assuming you want to treat x3 as continuous, The command should be
>> > something
>> > like
>> >
>> > logit y i.x1 i.x2 x3 x4 i.x1#c.x3 i.x2#c.x3
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >> X1 and X2 are binary predictors. X3 is an ordinal predictor. X4 is a
>> >> control variable. X1*X3 and X2*X3 are the interaction of X1 and X2,
>> >> respectively, with X3.
>> >>
>> >> I'd like to assess the discrete change in my dependent variable for X1
>> >> at different levels of X3, given that I expect there to be interaction
>> >> effects of X1 and X3. I also need to set X2 and X2*X3 at zero while
>> >> doing this in order to calculate the proper discrete change of
>> >> interest. As for the control variable X4, I'd like to just keep it at
>> >> its mean value.
>> >>
>> >> I used the following margins command to calculate the discrete change
>> >> in
>> >> X1:
>> >>
>> >> margins, dydx(X1) atmeans at(X3=(1 2 3) X1*X3=(1 2 3) X2=0 X2*X3=0)
>> >
>> >
>> > if you have used factor variable notation, I think all you need is
>> >
>> > margins, dydx(x1) atmeans at(x3=1 2 3) x2 = 0)
>> >
>> > I could be wrong so make sure it looks right.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >> "Atmeans" places X4 at its mean, while the stuff after "at" specifies
>> >> the specific values at which to hold the other variables while
>> >> calculating the change.
>> >>
>> >> But in the legend that accompanies the results, it keeps saying that
>> >> X1 is being held at its mean value when the discrete change
>> >> calculations are being made. Why does margins set the variable of
>> >> interest--located after the dydx command--to its mean value when
>> >> calculating the discrete change, when clearly one would want the dydx
>> >> calculations to be made at specific values of the variable of
>> >> interest? I just assumed that placing the variable of interest after
>> >> dydx would tell Stata to calculate the change in Y as that variable
>> >> moves from zero to one, holding all other variables at the values
>> >> specified after "at."
>> >>
>> >> Am I doing something incorrectly?
>> >>
>> >> Perhaps I should just use King et al.'s CLARIFY package to calculate
>> >> the predicted probabilities, or perhaps even follow Buis' (2010)
>> >> advice and calculate the odds. From what I gather, those two are a
>> >> bit more straightforward then using the margins command.
>> >>
>> >> Thanks in advance,
>> >> --Dave
>> >> *
>> >> * 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/
>> >
>> >
>> > -------------------------------------------
>> > Richard Williams, Notre Dame Dept of Sociology
>> > OFFICE: (574)631-6668, (574)631-6463
>> > HOME: (574)289-5227
>> > EMAIL: [email protected]
>> > WWW: http://www.nd.edu/~rwilliam
>> >
>> >
>> > *
>> > * 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/
>> *
>> * 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/
>
>
> -------------------------------------------
> Richard Williams, Notre Dame Dept of Sociology
> OFFICE: (574)631-6668, (574)631-6463
> HOME: (574)289-5227
> EMAIL: [email protected]
> WWW: http://www.nd.edu/~rwilliam
>
> *
> * 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/
*
* 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/
-------------------------------------------
Richard Williams, Notre Dame Dept of Sociology
OFFICE: (574)631-6668, (574)631-6463
HOME: (574)289-5227
EMAIL: [email protected]
WWW: http://www.nd.edu/~rwilliam
*
* 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/