Nick Cox
> David Greenberg
> >
> > It seems to me that if your concern is with the
> > disappearance of the original variables from the data set,
> > one could generate a new variable equal to the old one, and
> > use collapse with the new variable. The original variable
> > will then still be preserved.
>
> Sorry, I don't understand this suggestion. Having
> a clone of a variable nearby doesn't inhibit a -collapse-,
> with its inevitable loss of information,
> nor should it.
>
> That is, suppose I
>
> . gen mpg2 = mpg
> . collapse mpg, by(rep78)
>
> The -mpg2- disappears along with
> everything else. All that is left
> is one value for each group of -rep78-
> and the group statistics (means) of
> -mpg-.
>
> Or am I missing something?
>
Strictly, my example is not what (I think)
David suggested, which would be more like
. gen mpg2 = mpg
. collapse mpg2, by(rep78)
but the result is identical in information
contained.
Nick
[email protected]
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