Delivery Stata Code

[Siegfried Fiegler]

Hello all,

I would like to submit the Stata code for my Thesis. Is it correct that in the first line with the "cd" command I can tell the supervisor to replace the path I used with the path the supervisor wants to use. Also with the hint that he will put the corresponding folder I submitted in this path? Thank you!

[Ken Chui]

If you only have one cd command and it's apparently enough to find it, then asking them to replace the directory may not be too much. But "with the hint that he will put the corresponding folder you submitted" may be pressing your luck, depending on how complicated your folder system is. You want him to focus on reviewing your code, and it'd be pertinent to make that experience as user-friendly as possible.

The best advice is: ask him how he'd like you to share the codes and if he can provide any past examples. Review spans a wide range, some may just want to have a cursory look of the log file or do file and some may want to rerun the analysis to make sure it's repeatable, it's better check with the user first.

I'd strongly recommend reading the first few chapters of The Workflow of Data Analysis Using Stata. One of the chapters covers how to set up a project folder with designated subfolders inside to store different contents. It's a great starting point.

With that self-contained project file set up, you can keep naming specific path to minimal. Zip up the whole project folder and submit it. So that when he unzipped it, the structure of the sub-folders will also be there.

It may also be helpful to know that if you double click on a do file to initiate Stata, the work directory will be automatically set to the place where you double clicked the file from. That means it's possible to have no fixed path in your cd command. Whatever you decided, your project folder should contain a clear "Read Me" txt file on the first level so that user can learn how to interact with your do files.

You can also consider other sharing methods such as hosting your project on Box, GitHub, etc.

[George Ford]

cd <enter location of data and do files>