Tabout In Stata – Create Publication Quality Tables – With Examples

The tabout command in Stata helps to create publication quality tables. Tables are an essential element of research publications, reports, and presentations. They help readers to understand complex data and summarize research findings. I have written a comprehensive guide on descriptive statistics in data. A college student asked me on this that how to use tabout command, which I did not cover in that blog. Therefore, I am writing this detailed blog post on tabout Stata.

Introduction

The tabout command in Stata is a powerful tool that can help you create publication-quality tables with minimal effort. One important aspect of research is the creation of high-quality tables that present data in a clear and concise manner. While Stata provides built-in commands for creating tables, they may not always meet the specific formatting and style requirements of various publications.

The tabout command in Stata provides a simple and efficient way to create publication quality tables that meet the exact formatting requirements of various journals and publications. With tabout, you can easily create tables with various summary statistics, cross-tabulations, regression results, and other statistics.

In this blog post, I will introduce the tabout command in Stata and provide step-by-step guidance on how to create publication quality tables. Finally, I will discuss some popular alternatives to tabout and common errors that may occur when using tabout and how to troubleshoot them.

By the end of this post, you will have a better understanding of how to use tabout to create high-quality tables that are suitable for publication.

Advantages of using tabout in Stata

There are several advantages of using tabout for creating publication quality tables in Stata:

1. Easy to use: tabout is a user-friendly command that makes it easy to create tables in Stata. The command requires minimal syntax. You can use it with little or no programming experience.
2. Customizable formatting: tabout provides a wide range of formatting options that allow you to customize the appearance of your tables. You can change the font size, style, and color, as well as the table borders and cell padding. This allows you to create tables that conform to the style guidelines of your target publication.
3. Comprehensive statistics: tabout can create tables that include a wide range of summary statistics, such as mean, median, standard deviation, minimum, and maximum. It can also create tables that include cross-tabulations and regression results.
4. Fast and efficient: tabout is a fast and efficient command that can handle large datasets and create tables quickly. This allows you to save time when creating tables and focus on other aspects of your research.
5. Easy to export: tabout tables can be easily exported to other software programs, such as Microsoft Excel, LaTeX, and HTML. This makes it easy to share your tables with collaborators or include them in your final publication.
6. Reliable results: tabout produces reliable results that are consistent with Stata’s built-in summary statistics and regression commands. This ensures that your tables are accurate and can be used with confidence in your research.

Installing tabout in Stata

Installing tabout in Stata is a straightforward process that involves downloading and installing the command from the SSC repository. Here’s how you can install tabout in Stata. Use the following code in Stata command prompt:

ssc install tabout

This will download and install the tabout command from the SSC repository. Once the installation is complete, you can start using the tabout command in Stata.

Basic syntax of tabout command

The basic syntax of the tabout command in Stata is as follows:

tabout varlist [if] [in] [weight] [using filename] [, options]

In this syntax, “varlist” refers to the list of variables that you want to include in the table. You can include multiple variables by separating them with a space.

The “if“, “in“, and “weight” options allow you to subset the data based on certain conditions or weights. For example, you can use the “if” option to include only observations that meet certain criteria, such as age > 30. The “in” option allows you to include only a subset of the data, such as the first 100 observations. The “weight” option allows you to weight the data, such as by the inverse of the standard error.

The “using” option allows you to save the table to a file. For example, you can use the “using filename” option to save the table to a file called “filename”. If the file already exists, you can use the “replace” option to overwrite it.

Finally, the options allow you to customize the appearance and content of the table. For example, you can use the “c()” option to include summary statistics, such as mean or standard deviation. You can also use the “cell()” option to specify the appearance of the cells, such as the font size or color.

Convert tabstat to tabout with an example

Converting tabstat output to tabout format in Stata is easy and can be done by using the “matrix” command to store the tabstat results and then passing the results to the tabout command. Here’s an example of how to convert tabstat output to tabout format:

Some Students complained that following code is not working at there end. So, what is the solution? Check the alternatives to tabout command section below which works exactly or better than this command in Stata.

sysuse auto, clear
 
* Calculate summary statistics using tabstat
tabstat price mpg weight, by(foreign) statistics(mean sd) columns(statistics)
 
* Store tabstat output in a matrix
matrix stats = r(StatTotal)
 
* Convert tabstat output to tabout format
tabout stats using table1.tex, ///
    style(tex) replace b(1) f(0 3) clabels(statistics) ///
    tlabels(, Foreign) csep("\multicolumn{2}{c}{") rsep("\\\\") ///
    caption("Summary Statistics by Car Type") ///
    nomtitles nonumber

The following output will be generated:

In this example, I first use the tabstat command to calculate summary statistics for the “price”, “mpg”, and “weight” variables, grouped by the “foreign” variable. I also specify that I want to calculate the mean and standard deviation for each variable using the “statistics(mean sd)” option.

I then store the tabstat output in a matrix called “stats” using the “matrix” command.

Finally, I pass the “stats” matrix to the tabout command using the “using” option. I also specify various options to format the table, such as the table style, column and row labels, cell formatting, and caption.

By using the matrix and tabout commands together, I can easily convert tabstat output to tabout format and create publication-quality tables in Stata.

Common errors and how to troubleshoot them

While using the tabout command in Stata, you may encounter some common errors. Here are a few of the most common errors and how to troubleshoot them:

1. “command tabout is unrecognized”: This error occurs when Stata is unable to recognize the tabout command. This error usually occurs when the tabout command has not been installed in Stata or when the command is not included in the current version of Stata. To troubleshoot this error, you need to install tabout package. To install the tabout command in Stata, you can use the ssc install tabout command. This command will download and install the tabout command from the Stata package repository. Once the installation is complete, you can use the tabout command to create tables in Stata.
2. “invalid syntax“: This error occurs when you have made a syntax error in the tabout command. Double-check the syntax and make sure you have entered it correctly.
3. “invalid option”: This error occurs when you have specified an invalid option in the tabout command. Double-check the options you have used and make sure they are valid options.
4. “no observations“: This error occurs when you are trying to create a table but the dataset you are using has no observations. Make sure you have loaded the correct dataset and that it contains observations.
5. “type mismatch“: This error occurs when you are trying to create a table but there is a mismatch between the data types of the variables you are using. Make sure the data types of the variables are compatible and that you have correctly specified their data types using Stata’s type command.
6. “variable not found“: This error occurs when you are trying to create a table but you have specified a variable that does not exist in the dataset. Double-check the variable name and make sure it is spelled correctly and exists in the dataset.

Alternative to tabout command

There are several alternatives to the tabout command in Stata for exporting tables. Here are a few options:

• asdoc: The asdoc command is a powerful tool for creating publication-quality tables and other types of output in Stata. It can be used with a wide range of commands, including tabout, and esttab. It offers many customization options, such as adding custom headers and footers, merging cells, and formatting cell contents.

sysuse auto, clear
 
// Use tabout to create a table of summary statistics and pipe output to asdoc
asdoc tabstat price mpg weight length, stat(mean sd min max) using summary.doc, replace

Output of above code will be following:

• outreg2: The outreg2 command is another popular alternative to tabout that can generate tables of summary statistics or regression results in a variety of formats, including LaTeX, Excel, and HTML. You can use the outreg2 command to create tables with a wide range of customization options.

sysuse auto, clear
 
// Use outreg2 to create a table of Regression Output
regress price mpg weight
outreg2 using regression_stats.doc

• estout: The estout command is a popular alternative to tabout for generating tables of estimation results. It offers many more customization options and can create tables in a variety of formats, including LaTeX, Excel, and HTML. You can use the esttab or estout commands to create tables of estimation results, depending on your needs.

sysuse auto, clear
regress price mpg weight
 
// Use estout to create a table of regression results
estout using results.doc, replace

To learn more about tabout, use following code in Stata

help tabout stata

Conclusion

Creating publication-quality tables in Stata is an essential skill for researchers, analysts, and students. The tabout command in Stata is a powerful tool that allows you to create high-quality tables with minimal effort. There are also some popular alternatives to tabout command, such as estout, outreg2, and asdoc.

In this blog post, I’ve shown you how to install tabout in Stata, how to use it to create tables from scratch or convert tabstat output. By following these steps, you can create publication-quality tables that communicate your research findings effectively and efficiently.

Thanks to Ian Watson for generating tabout