An introduction to statistics and data analysis using Stata : from research design to final report

"Does the use of ChatGPT to practice homework problems improve scores? Were mask mandates motivated by politics during the COVID-19 pandemic? Are there differences in education levels among men and women who use online dating applications? Do students from high-income families earn higher SAT scores? These are just some of the examples used in this book, An Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis Using Stata: From Research Design to Final Product, second edition, to illustrate the endless number of interesting questions that can be examined with statistics. Drawing on our 25 years of experience in teaching data analysis to undergraduate students and designing over 30 surveys in 17 countries, we have incorporated four essential elements in this book that we believe are fundamental to the practice of data analysis. 1. The book provides an introduction to research design and data collection, including questionnaire design, sample selection, sampling weights, and data cleaning. These topics are an important part of empirical research and provide students with the skills to conduct their own research and evaluate research carried out by others. 2. We frame data analysis within the research process-identifying gaps in the literature, examining the theory, developing research questions, designing a questionnaire or using secondary data, analyzing the data, and writing a research paper. 3. We emphasize the use of code or command files in Stata rather than the point-andclick menu features of the software. We believe that students should be taught to write programs that document their analysis, as this allows them to reproduce their work during follow-up analyses and to facilitate collaborative work. We do, however, include brief instructions on the use of Stata menus for each command. 4. The book teaches students how to describe statistical results for technical and nontechnical audiences. Being able to explain the results to various audiences is just as important as choosing the correct statistical test and generating results."