Stata: Data Analysis and Statistical Software

Your syntax is correct. You don't need the "linearized" option, as it
is the default for -svy: mean-.

However, hypothesis testing is usually not appropriate for finite
population studies. See:
http://www.stata.com/statalist/archive/2009-02/msg00806.html If
hypothesis testing is appropriate for your situation , then you should
exclude the finite population correction (fpc) option from your
-svyset- command.

I'm guessing that you also (or only) want to know how different the
means in the categories of var2 are. Confidence intervals will
provide the answer, and you can keep the finite population correction
in your -svyset- statement if appropriate.

It is poor practice (and cumbersome) to label categories with strings
like "var2a" "var2b". These are unnecessary as "a", "b", .. have no
descriptive value. Just make var2 a numeric variable with values 1 2
3 4 5. Use -label define- and -label values- to associate the
numeric values with descriptive text.

Assuming that you do that, the easiest way to to get confidence
intervals for all pairwise differences after -svy: mean- is to write
out the 10 statements

lincom _b[1] - _b[2]
lincom _b[1] - _b[3]
...
lincom _b[4] - _b[5]

For plotting continuous outcomew with groups I recommend -dotplot-
although it will not take weights.

-Steve

On Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 4:31 PM, Jean-Gael Collomb <jg@ufl.edu> wrote:

Hello -
I have been struggling to find a way to compare the means of a different
categories of one of my variable. I think I have found a way but I wonder
if there would be a more efficient way to do it. In the following example,

var 2 has five categories (var2a-var2e).
Here's teh commands I type (after survey setting the data):

svy linearized : mean var1, over(var2)
test [var1]var2a = [var1]var2b = [var1]var2c = [var1]var2d = [var1]var2e,
mtest(b)
test [var1]var2b = [var1]var2c = [var1]var2d = [var1]var2e, mtest(b)
test [var1]var2c = [var1]var2d = [var1]var2e, mtest(b)
test [var1]var2d = [var1]var2e, mtest(b)

Is there a better way to do this?

Thanks!

Jean-Gael "JG" Collomb
PhD candidate
School of Natural Resources and Environment / School of Forest Resources
and
Conservation
University of Florida

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