Randomization in Stata

Steps on effectively using Stata to randomize survey questionnaire

Here are a few steps that should be followed to create a reproducible randomization using Stata:

• Use a dataset which has a unique ID [respondent ID, household number, etc.
• While writing a do-file, pay close attention to the following things:
  • Set version. This ensures that the randomization algorithm is the same, as it sometimes changes between Stata versions.
  • Set seed. This makes sure that the same random number is generated for the first observation, for the second observation, and so on, for every time the code is run.
  • Properly sorting the data. The data should be sorted such that observations are in the same order every time the code is run. The most optimal situation is sorting using an ID variable which uniquely and fully identifies each observation.
• Convert the random numbers into categorical variables or dummy variables. This helps you check if the data is balanced.