obsofint: Stata module to display observations of interest

Authors: Maarten L. Buis and Ronnie Babigumira

Description

obsofint is intended to help scan a large number of variables for unusual observations. These unusual observations are unusual in the sense that they either have a much smaller or a much larger value on a given variable than the bulk of the data. These observations of interest are identified using a criterium that is an adaptation of the commonly used Tukey bounds used in for example boxplots. In our experience these Tukey bounds flag too many values as extreme values if a variable is either skewed or has a spike (a value that is very common). The rule used in obsofint is meant to result in less false positives in case skewed or spiked variables.

Supporting material

Examples


. sysuse auto, clear
(1978 Automobile Data)


. obsofint, idlist(make)
variable make is a string variable and will not be checked
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Observations of interest report for price; Price






  +---------------------------------+
  | obs_nr   make             price |
  |---------------------------------|
  |     12   Cad. Eldorado   14,500 |
  |     13   Cad. Seville    15,906 |
  +---------------------------------+



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