Re: st: if-then-else

[Richard Williams <Richard.A.Williams.5@nd.edu>]

At 11:12 PM 12/17/2003 -0500, Christopher F Baum wrote:
> On Wed, 17 Dec 2003, Richard Williams wrote:
> > In SPSS, I could do something like
> >
> > DO IF X1 = 1 and X2 = 3
> >     Compute Y = 3.
> > ELSE IF X3 = 2 and X4 = 17
> >     Compute Y = 4.
> > ELSE
> >     Compute Y = 5.
> > END IF.
>
> Although Richard's point--that most programming languages contain an 
> if-then-else structure--this example shows one of the potential confusions 
> of that structure. What if (x1/x4) = (1,3,2,17) ? In this example, that 
> will yield y=4; the order of the if-else clauses matters. Perhaps this is 
> not very likely to be a realistic application of if-then-else--more likely 
> that the conditions are mutually exclusive--but whether one programs this 
> as if-then-else or, as in Stata, as successive 'replace if' statements, 
> the ordering of these evaluations matters.
No, I don't think so.  In SPSS, it will yield Y = 3; because the initial if 
statement is true none of the following statements will get 
executed.  Order does indeed matter, so you have to make sure that, if 
multiple conditions are satisfied, the highest priority one comes first, 
followed by the 2nd highest, etc.

This is admittedly a weird example but similar things do come up where your 
computation of Y depends on characteristics of the individual.  So, for 
example, if y = admission score, the logic might be something like if 
applicant is child of an alum and alum is super rich, y = 1; else if 
applicant has high standardized test scores and high grades y = 2; else y 
=3.  Well hopefully this example isn't realistic either but the idea is 
that some characteristics automatically get you a 1 no matter how you score 
on anything else, and given that you didn't get a 1 other characteristics 
automatically get you a 2 no matter what your values are on anything else 
lower down the chain, etc.  Conditions need not be mutually exclusive; If 
multiple conditions are met, then the one that came first in the 
if-then-else construction takes precedence.

Another possible application is where skip patterns cause basically the 
same or a similar question to be asked at different points in the 
interview; so, for some people, y = x17, for others y = x33, for everyone 
else y = x50.  The answers to several different questions may determine 
which other questions you eventually get skipped to.



> And for an obtuse solution:
>
>
> . g c1=3*(x1==1 & x2==3)
>
> . g c2=4*(x3==2 & x4==17)
>
> . g y= cond(max(c1,c2),max(c1,c2),5)
>
> . list x1-x4 y
>
>      +-----------------------+
>      | x1   x2   x3   x4   y |
>      |-----------------------|
>   1. |  1    3    0    0   3 |
>   2. |  0    0    2   17   4 |
>   3. |  1    2    3    4   5 |
>   4. |  1    3    2   17   4 |
>   5. |  1    2    3    4   5 |
>      +-----------------------+
No, something is wrong there; on case 4, my SPSS code would result in y = 
3, not y = 4 like you have it.

Perhaps the moral is to avoid situations like this like the plague, because 
they are so easy to screw up!  But if you must do it, make sure it comes 
out the way you intended it to.


-------------------------------------------
Richard Williams, Associate Professor
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