Course overview

This course covers the most used Stata commands. Participants will learn techniques for organising their work efficiently and reproducibly in Stata. Participants will be shown how to create a do-file of Stata commands, import data into Stata, clean data, change data and create new variables, combine data files, save data, produce basic descriptive statistics, create simple graphs, and use Stata's extensive online help. 

We also offer a course on Stata 2: Reproducible Data Analysis in Stata.

Prerequisites

This course is designed for beginning researchers, but it assumes familiarity with computer file management, including how to recognise different file types by their extensions and how to move files between directories. The course is Windows-based, but participants using other operating systems, such as MacOS, should be able to follow the material presented.

Stata software

A week prior to the course all students will be provided with a temporary licence to allow them to install and run Stata software on their home computers.

Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) has a site license for the use of the Stata SE software package. This can be freely installed on both MCRI and personal computers for MCRI staff and affiliates, including students. It is only to be used for MCRI-related work.

See our Installation instructions (internal link only) for more details.

Course outcomes

At the completion of the Introduction to Stata: Managing Your Data course, students should be able to:

  • Create and run do-files containing Stata commands
  • Import data from Excel and other data sources into Stata 
  • Understand the basics of data cleaning
  • Inspect and list the data in a Stata dataset
  • Change data and create new variables
  • Merge and append Stata data files, save data
  • Reshape data sets from "long" to "wide" form and vice versa
  • Generate simple descriptive statistics for data
  • Create simple graphs and save them in a useable format
  • Access Stata Help

University of Melbourne
This course is delivered by Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit (CEBU), a working partnership between Murdoch Children's Research Institute and the University of Melbourne.

Course dates for 2024

 This course is offered online only, via Microsoft Teams.

  • 12-13 March 2024* 
  • 18-19 June 2024*
  • 8-9 October 2024*

*Course registrations close two weeks prior to the course date.

Online course

Course details

  • Time: 9:00 am-5:00 pm (Days 1 and 2)
  • Venue: Online via Teams (please provide work or student email in your registration).

Course format

  • The course runs on two scheduled days.
  • A week prior to the course all students will be provided with a temporary licence to allow them to download and run Stata on their home computers.
  • The day before the course, the course notes and required files (Stata files and Excel files) will be made available for students to download.
  • Our course instructors have recorded a series of short videos between 5-10 minutes which support students in systematically working through the course notes. These are available on Teams for the duration of the course.
  • The course begins with a brief introduction by one of our course instructors via Teams. Students can then work through the course notes and view the instructional videos at their own pace.
  • There will be opportunities during the two days to ask questions.

Students will be provided with:

  • Comprehensive course notes, including answers to all exercises.
  • Files required for course exercises.
  • Training videos that work systematically through the material in the course notes (available for the week of the course).
  • A 30-day free trial licence and Stata installation instructions.

Online course fees

  • $300 for internal applicants – Melbourne Children’s campus staff (Murdoch Children's Research Institute, The Royal Children's Hospital and the University of Melbourne, Department of Paediatrics)
  • $700 for external full-time students and Melbourne Academic Centre for Health (MACH-affiliated) institutions (please enter institution name)
  • $990 for external applicants with no appointment on Melbourne Children’s campus
  • Returning participants: We offer a 50 per cent discount for people who have previously attended this course and would like to attend a refresher. Find out more by contacting the email address below.
  • Low- or middle-income country (LMIC) participants: We offer special rates for people from low- or middle-income countries. Find out more by contacting the email address below. 

Payment and registration

Payment by credit card (not available to Murdoch Children's Research Institute staff)

You or your organisation can register and pay for the course directly via Trybooking. Follow the prompts to make payment and register. You will receive a course confirmation and tax invoice via email.

Please note: There is a Trybooking fee of 50 cents per registration which will be applied when you register online.

Trybooking – Register for Stata 1

Payment via Unimarket (Murdoch Children's Research Institute staff only)

Payment must be made via Unimarket. MCRI staff must not make credit card payments and seek reimbursement from an MCRI cost centre (this is not permitted).

  • Go to Unimarket (Unimarket can also be accessed from the MCRI intranet homepage for internal staff).
  • Log in and search for CEBU as a supplier.
  • Select CEBU courses and add the required course to the shopping cart for the CEBU course/s you wish to enrol in.
  • The GL account for training is 34460. Instructions on using Unimarket are on the intranet (internal staff only).
  • Once your Cost Centre manager approves it, CEBU will email you with the Trybooking link and promotional code to register for the course.

Please note: Your place in the course is not confirmed until you have registered via Trybooking.

Cancellation of registration

You can apply for a refund or request to change the course session to a different date pending availability if it is received seven (7) calendar days prior to the course start date. No refunds or credits will be issued for cancellations or non-attendance after this time.

Contact us

Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics Unit (CEBU)
Murdoch Children's Research Institute
The Royal Children's Hospital
50 Flemington Road
Parkville VIC 3052
Australia

Fiona Snashall or Julie Perkins
Email:
Phone: show phone number

Full course timetable

See our full course timetable below for information on all CEBU courses.

CEBU course timetable