Sar: Automatic generation of statistical reports using Stata and Microsoft word for windows

Abstract

The output provided by most Stata commands is plain text not suitable to be presented or published. After the numerical and graphical outputs are obtained, the user has to copy them into a word processor to complete the editing process. Some Stata commands help you to obtain well-formatted output, especially tabulated results in LATEX or other formats, but they are not a complete solution nor are they friendly tools. Stata automatic report (Sar) is an easy-to-use macro for Microsoft Word for Windows that allows a powerful integration between Stata and Word. With Sar, the user can retrieve numerical results and graphs from Stata and automatically insert them into a well-formatted Word document, exploiting all the functions of Word. This process is managed by Word while Stata is executed in the background. Sar requires Stata commands and some specific Sar commands to be written in ordinary Word comments. Thus the report is well documented, and this can encourage the sharing of the workflow of data analysis and the reproducibility of the research. With Sar, the user can create an automatic report, that is, a Word document that can be automatically updated if data have changed. Sar works only on Windows systems. © 2013 StataCorp LP.