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RE: st: troubleshooting code for simulating survival data


From   "Nick Cox" <[email protected]>
To   <[email protected]>
Subject   RE: st: troubleshooting code for simulating survival data
Date   Thu, 29 May 2008 16:25:26 +0100

This trace does not add to what you know already. One alternative is to
increase the trace depth, but the program is sufficiently short that
line-by-line scrutiny pays dividends. 

Your bootstrap command expects to see a scalar r(a). 

This will be produced if, and only if, the local macro X contains a. 

But  

First, Svend pointed out that local macro X is never defined by your
program. Nor is it defined by -indeplist-. -indeplist, local- defines a
local locnames, as its help indicates. You do not address this point in
your reply. 

Second, you are calling -stcox- without covariates, so I see no point in
firing up      -indeplist- to find out what your covariates are. One of
those things is either wrong or irrelevant.  

I don't understand exactly what your program is trying to do but it does
appear buggy.  

You may also be getting confused between a and `a', which are quite
different beasts. 

The variable `id' does nothing in your program. I don't know if that
matters. My guess is not. 

Nick 
[email protected] 

Michael McCulloch

Thanks Svend. I've re-run the program preceded by
    . set tracedepth 1
    . set trace on
and here is what is returned, but I'm not sure how to understand the 
error messages given.

********* begin command *************
. capture program drop sim_surv

.         program define sim_surv, rclass
   1.         tempname lambda a id t
   2.         set obs 10 //create 10 observations
   3.         gen `id'=_n //Create ID numbers
   4.         set seed 1235 //set random number seed for reproducibility
   5.         gen `a'=0 + int(2*uniform()) //Generate treatment: 
discrete 0/1 uniform random variable
>  s
   6.         gen `lambda'=-2
   7.         gen `t'=(ln(uniform())/(`lambda'*exp(-0.8*`a'))) // 
using Bender, 2005
   8.         stset `t'
   9.         stcox `t'
  10.                 indeplist, local
  11.                 foreach var of varlist `X' {
  12.                         return scalar `var' = exp(_b[`var'])
  13.                 }
  14.
. end

. set seed 12358

. bootstrap a=r(a), eform reps(10): sim_surv

********* begin response *************
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------ 
begin bootstrap ---
   - version 9, missing
   - local version : di "version " string(_caller()) ", missing:"
   - if _caller() < 9 {
     capture syntax [anything] using [, * ]
     if !c(rc) {
     if _by() {
     error 190
     }
     `version' bootstrap_8 `0'
     exit
     }
     }
   - capture _on_colon_parse `0'
   = capture _on_colon_parse a=r(a), eform reps(10): sim_surv
   - if c(rc) | `"`s(after)'"' == "" {
   = if c(rc) | `" sim_surv"' == "" {
     gettoken old : 0 , qed(qed)
     if `qed' {
     `version' bootstrap_8 `0'
     exit
     }
     else if "`old'" != "" {
     capture which `old'
     if !c(rc) {
     `version' bootstrap_8 `0'
     exit
     }
     capture program list `old'
     if !c(rc) {
     `version' bootstrap_8 `0'
     exit
     }
     }
     capture syntax [, * ]
     if !c(rc) {
     if _caller() < 9 {
     `version' bootstrap_8 `0'
     exit
     }
     if "`e(prefix)'" != "bootstrap" {
     error 301
     }
     `version' Display `0'
     exit
     }
     else {
     `version' bootstrap_8 `0'
     exit
     }
     }
   - preserve
   - `version' BootStrap `0'
   = version 9.2, missing: BootStrap a=r(a), eform reps(10): sim_surv
(running sim_surv on estimation sample)
'r(a)' evaluated to missing in full sample
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------- 
end bootstrap ---
r(322);



>Michael McCulloch wrote:
>
>I've written the following do-file to simulate survival data, in the
>case of exponential distribution with one treatment variable (a) and
>no covariates. The code works when not in a program, and returns the
>specified Beta-coefficient (-0.8). May I ask for help in fine-tuning
>the program? I'm getting error message: "  'r(a)' evaluated to
>missing in full sample".
>
>clear
>capture program drop sim_surv
>	program define sim_surv, rclass
>	tempname lambda a id t
>	set obs 10 //create 10 observations
>	gen `id'=_n //Create ID numbers
>	set seed 1235 //set random number seed for reproducibility
>	gen `a'=0 + int(2*uniform()) //Generate treatment: discrete
>0/1 uniform random variables
>	gen `lambda'=-2
>	gen `t'=(ln(uniform())/(`lambda'*exp(-0.8*`a'))) // using
>Bender, 2005
>	stset `t'
>	stcox `t'
>		indeplist, local
>		foreach var of varlist `X' {
>			return scalar `var' = exp(_b[`var'])
>		}
>
>end
>set seed 12358
>bootstrap a=r(a), eform reps(10): sim_surv
>
>==============================================================
>
>It seems that contents of the local macro `X' is not defined within
>the program.  That may explain why the code works when not in a
>program, but not in this program.
>
>To examine such problems try:
>
>     set tracedepth 1
>     set trace on
>
>Other advice: Tell which command in the program that gave rise to
>the error message, by copying and pasting both command and response
>to you mai..
>
>

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