Factor variables

[Paul Olz]

Due to missing experiences in the field of statistics and Stata, I have a question regarding the factor variables. I have a dummy variable for a certain topic and a degree of employees ( 1= Bachelor, 2 = Master, 3 = PhD, ... ). Which factor variable should I use for the regression? Is the degree a continuous variable due to the relation that they have?

Thank you very much in advance for your support.

[Carlo Lazzaro]

Paul:
1) as per your description, -degree- is a categorical variable, as it includes different levels of education presumably pursued by the units in your dataset. Each number (BTW: starting from zero vs. 1 is highly recommended; yet, Stata renumber the levels from zero onwards automatically) reperesent an educational level (therefore, numbers do not have any computational property, but are simply flags);
2) if your data are (as recommended) in -long- format and you rely on the wonderful capabilities of -fvvarlist- notation (as recommended again), Stata will automatically omit the reference category.