Re: st: heteroskedasticity between groups, interpretation of -sdtest-

[Nick Cox <njcoxstata@gmail.com>]

If your main interest is in the regression, the results of -sdtest-
are at best marginal (pun intended) and at worst irrelevant.

The main issue is whether heteroskedasticity is present given the
predictor variables you are using. It is often best to explore this
graphically, by looking at scatter plots or residual plots.

Nick

On Mon, Dec 17, 2012 at 11:01 AM, Laura R. <laura.roh@googlemail.com> wrote:

> I have estimated a regression in which the cases stem from two surveys
> that have been conducted in different years. I put a dummy variable
> for the survey year into the regression
>
> Now my questions:
> 1. Do I still have to worry about group heteroskedasticity, i.e. that
> the estimations are somehow biased?
>
> 2. Does it matter if variances between these two groups are
> homo/heterogenous for the descritive statistics? (I mean, when I
> describe the mean of the dependent variable in these two years, and
> make comparisons)
>
> 3. I did a test for heterogeneity between the variances between the
> groups (-sdtest-), but how can I interpret the results?
>
> E.g., I did: sdtest depvar, by(survey_1)
>
> For example, I received this result:
>     Ha: ratio < 1               Ha: ratio != 1                 Ha: ratio > 1
>   Pr(F < f) = 0.8246         2*Pr(F > f) = 0.3508           Pr(F > f) = 0.1754
>
>
> For some different data, this result:
>     Ha: ratio < 1               Ha: ratio != 1                 Ha: ratio > 1
>   Pr(F < f) = 1.0000         2*Pr(F > f) = 0.0000           Pr(F > f) = 0.0000
*
*   For searches and help try:
*   http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
*   http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/resources/statalist-faq/
*   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/