InfoGuides: Software for Digital Scholarship: Stata

Stata is statistical software from StataCorp that is commonly used by economists, political scientists, and others in academia. Stata is considered to be more powerful than SPSS with excellent syntax and programming capabilities, though not necessarily as flexible as SAS and R. People who know Stata often prefer it over SPSS and SAS because of the balance between difficulty and power. However, it is used far less than the other statistical softwares.

Access to Stata

Purchase Stata/BE ( offers 6 mos, 1 yr, and perpetual licenses )
Use the computer labs at the Arlington Campus
7-day Free Trial from Stata Corp.
Use the Digital Scholarship Center Lab in Fenwick Library (has Stata 17/SE)
On the Citrix Virtual Lab (more instructions)
For Big Data: ORC's Hopper Cluster

Learning Path

Stata tutorials from the Social Science Computing Cooperative (SSCC) are the best way to learn Stata for most people.

1 Hour Virtual Workshop

Introduction to Stata - Covers the crucial fundamental concepts in Stata, whether it is your first time or not. .
- There are videos AND text with screenshots as you prefer and you can and should follow along with the instructions.
- Using Stata, Structure of a Stata Data Set, Elements of Stata Syntax, Do Files, Statistics, Creating and Changing Variables

Other Learning Paths

For undergraduate students who just have to get through an introductory class, the text tutorials:

Stata for Students for lessons on Do Files, Interface, Data, Commands, Comments, Creating Variables and Labels, Graphs, Reading Data, Descriptive Statistics, Graphs, t-tests, Scatterplots, Correlations, and more.

For data preparation, see the Videos & Text tutorials:

Data Wrangling in Stata - Walks through the Review, Reading in Data, First Steps, Variable Transformations, Hierarchical Data, Restructuring, Combining, Project Management
Check out other tutorials, including Stata Programming Essentials, Stata Programming Tools, and Other Stata Topics

Stata Windows & Files

Stata Basic Syntax

Stata Syntax and Help

Learning

Follow-Along Tutorials

Getting Started Manuals – StataCorp (or type "help gs" in the Command Window)
- Great introductory textbook with a moderate-pace follow-along introduction.
- Videos: Stata's YouTube Channel has videos on almost everything. See Getting Started (~30min)
Getting Started: Stata – Oscar Torres-Reyna, Princeton University
- Collection of easy-to-follow tutorials varying in length and complexity
Stata Tutorial by German Rodriguez, Princeton University
- A fast-paced introduction to Stata, with sections on Data Management, Graphics, and Programming

Reference Sources

Internet Guide to Stata - Wolfgang Ludwig-Mayerhofer
- Quickly look up a short example and explanation for both basic and advanced tasks in this well organized guide.
Fundamentals of Data Analysis and Visualization -- Geocenter
- Handy, but dense, printable Cheat Sheets (a la RStudio) organized by task

Data Analysis

See more about the theory and interpretation of statistical tests in our Data Analysis & Statistics InfoGuide

Stata for Statistical Testing

Comprehensive Reference

NYU's Quantitative Analysis Guide - Look-up table to choose a statistical test

Links directly to relevant pages in the following useful resources

StataCorp (can type help in the Command Window)
- See also the longer, book-like pdf Documentation which is focused on syntax but also reports menu locations
- See also: Video Tutorials from StataCorp which Demonstrates point-and-click and show syntax
- See also FAQs & Resources and Support
Laerd Statistics
- ~$5 a month; some content free if accessed through searches or links
- Although focused on SPSS, they have Stata versions of over a dozen medium-length articles which include both point-and-click and syntax instructions
- Intended for beginners, but appropriate for all; covers both analysis and data management skills
- Comprehensive and detailed, covering use, assumptions, setup, output, and write-up in plain language
UCLA ATS Statistical Computing-Stata
- Text-only syntax instructions demonstrate appropriate analysis and interpretation
- Resources vary in length from short annotated outputs to long seminar notes
- Focuses on an intermediate/advanced audience and topics
- Go to Examples and Annotated Output
Reed Psychology's Stata instructional site
- Screenshot-heavy moderate-length tutorials on everything from basic to advanced skills

Class Materials / Companions

Stata Highlights for Statistical Analysis by Richard Williams, Notre Dame Sociology
- Complete examples for preparing and evaluating general analysis types
Statistical Modeling with Stata by Mark Lunt
- Lecture notes, exercises, and solutions for an intermediate statistics course covering various regression models.
Methods/STATA Manual by Alison Johnston for the School of Public Policy, Oregon State University
- 200+ pg comprehensive guide to statistical analysis in STATA
- From basic descriptives to Multinomial Logistic Regression

Special Topics

More Advanced Help

Submit help command in the Command Window to get details on any command
The Stata Bible 2.0 – Covers the basic syntax that a programmer would want to know [Dawn L. Teele, Yale's StatLab]
Stata also allows Community-Contributed commands (How to add & List of Sources)

Switching to Stata

From SAS: SAS code matched to Stata code & A SAS User's Guide to Stata
From SPSS: How do I do this SPSS command in Stata

Graphing

Examples with syntax

Visual overview for creating graphs – Stata
Tips - Stata Graphs from Survey Design and Analysis Services
Speaking Stata Graphics by Nicholas J. Cox
- See also: Stata Plots & BloxPlots
- Speaking Stata from the Stata Journal
Stata Plots and Stata Learning Modules from UCLA ATS

Additional Tutorials

Stata Manual: Introduction to Graphics and Graphics Reference Manual
Videos: Creating graphs in Stata Playlist at YouTube from StataCorp
An Introduction to Stata Graphics from SSCC (uses the menus)
A visual guide to Stata graphics by Michael N. Mitchell (Availability at Fenwick Library)

Software for Digital Scholarship