Stata

[henge]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I'm a 2d year undergrad thinking about getting an MPH in epidemiology. I know nothing about stata other than that it is a software application used for data management and manipulation, and that I can get it cheaply through my university. I'll take a statistics class next autumn, which I suspect will be very theoretical, rather than practical (i.e., I doubt we'll be taught how to use stata or other data software). Would it make sense to take an online course in stata this summer, or would it be better to wait until after I've had the statistics class?

Also, I saw an old thread started by exmike back in 2004, saying to take SAS. Am I on the right track with stata? Should I look into SAS or some other applications?

 

[Stories]

Most schools (and government agencies) utilize SAS. Some schools use STATA. Most social science departments utilize SPSS. Generally, knowing SAS is a more useful tool than STATA simply because of the broad user base of SAS. Many (straight, not biostatistics) statistics departments utilize R, exclusively. Then there's also some combination of other softwares out there like Mathematica, Matlab, Minitab, S-Plus, etc. which are more specific for given fields.

If you want to be a statistician, knowing the programs will definitely help. But unless that's what you want out of your carrer (or are in a career where statistics is important), I wouldn't bother.

 

[henge]

thanks!

 

[Kevin36]

I think Stata is a great program. Easy to use and fairly powerful. But SAS is probably the industry standard.

On a slightly different note, if you are great with Stata but have never used SAS how quickly could one learn SAS. I would think it would just be a matter of learning the syntax.

 

[Nibor6000]

Stata is very user friendly. I don't think it would hurt you to take the course, if you have the time. However, SAS is probably going to serve you better as you move forward.

 

[behealthy]

Had to learn R for undergrad epi class, UCLA teaches us STATA...

 

[henge]

Thanks all