Political Science 245 Computer Problem Set #1

1) Enter two variables of at least 20 observations into an Excel spreadsheet, giving the two variables appropriate 8-character names. Save the new information you've entered onto a floppy disc in Excel format (conventionally ending in .xls ).

2) Save those same data as comma-delimited ASCII text, with a new name that indicates the format (conventionally, ending in .csv ).

Political Science 245 Computer Problem Set #2

1) Enter two variables of at least 20 observations into the STATA spreadsheet-style editor, giving the two variables appropriate 8-character names. Save the new information you've entered onto a floppy disc in STATA format (conventionally ending in .dta ).

2) Also create a second, comma-delimited copy of the data (conventionally ending in .raw when using STATA) with the following command:

outfile using filename.raw, comma -where filename is the STATA file name

3) Open a log file on your floppy disc so that your output will be saved (conventionally ending in .log ).

4) Summarize each of your variables using the following STATA command:

summ

5) Tabulate each of your variables by using the following STATA command:

tab varname -where varname is whatever you called each variable

6) Close your log file - that is, press the "Log" button and choose "Close log file."

7) Open your log file, which is simply an ASCII (DOS) text file, in a word processor or text editor. Clean it up so that it looks good, and either save it again as a text or word processor file, or print it out.

8) Turn in the floppy, with all five files (xls, csv, dta, raw, log), plus either an edited output file created from your log or a printed version.