Re: st: Is pweight the right weight for me and how to specify my weight vector

[Richard Williams <richardwilliams.ndu@gmail.com>]

I agree that the question is unclear. I wonder if zip code areas are 
the intended unit of analysis? If so aweights might be appropriate. 
See, for example,

<http://www.cpc.unc.edu/research/tools/data_analysis/statatutorial/sample_surveys/weight_syntax>http://www.cpc.unc.edu/research/tools/data_analysis/statatutorial/sample_surveys/weight_syntax


At 11:37 PM 12/26/2013, Steve Samuels wrote:

> Your description so far says nothing about a sampling process of any
> kind, so your designation of the weights as "sampling weights" or
> "probability" weights (pweights) is premature and probably incorrect.
>
> We would need more detail on the population, the sampling process if
> any, the sample, and the purpose of your analysis. Have you only zip
> code level data, data on individuals, or both?
>
> Steve
>
>
> Dear Members.
> I have data with multiple observations per zip code.  I count the
> number of observations per zip code and use that number as the
> sampling weight. So I have a vector called weights, which is equal to
> the number of observations per zip code. When I run a regression and
> use the [pweight=weights] option, does stata invert each element of
> the vector or am I supposed to do take the inverse manually?
>
> Secondly, can someone provide some intuition for when I use pweight as
> stated above?  Is the result a regression in which each zip code is
> weighted equally?  The worry is that without this weight command, a
> zip code with 10,000 observations will drive regression results more
> than a zip code with 1 observation.  I'm wondering if using pweight
> will down weight the zip code with 10,000 observations and upweight
> zip codes with fewer observations. Is there a better weighting scheme
> to use in this situation? Thanks for any advice.
> Jesse
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Richard Williams, Notre Dame Dept of Sociology
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