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Re: st: To Stata programmers - All programs should provide references
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From |
Richard Williams <[email protected]> |
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To |
[email protected] |
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Subject |
Re: st: To Stata programmers - All programs should provide references |
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Date |
Sun, 25 Nov 2007 10:49:40 -0500 |
At 09:06 AM 11/22/2007, [email protected] wrote:
First, most packages (at least those I have used) fail to provide
references and detail on how their estimates are obtained (formulae).
Second, before being available for general users, Stata programs (i.e.
those availabe in SSC or elsewhere) are extensively validated? As a
reviewer, should one trust 100% in new user written Stata programs?
When I submitted my first program to SSC, I expected to hear back in
a week or two whether it had passed rigorous validation tests and
been accepted. When Kit got back to me an hour later and said it was
up, I (a) was very impressed with his efficiency, and (b) realized
that it was up to me to make sure the thing really was working right.
For my own part, when possible I try to test my programs against SPSS
and/or published results that I can replicate. If I am doing it
wrong, at least I have company.
Providing references is a good idea and many people do it.
You should remember that user-written routines generally are written
by amateur programmers who may or may not have gone to great lengths
to validate their results. They also may not have anticipated all
the conditions under which their programs may be used, e.g. does the
program work correctly with weights? Stata's user-written routines
are a tremendous asset and are generally well done but it doesn't
hurt to occasionally do some additional checks to make sure you
believe the results, e.g. run the same thing in a different package.
-------------------------------------------
Richard Williams, Notre Dame Dept of Sociology
OFFICE: (574)631-6668, (574)631-6463
HOME: (574)289-5227
EMAIL: [email protected]
WWW: http://www.nd.edu/~rwilliam
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