Stata learning resources and training courses

This page provides updates about available learning resources and upcoming Stata training courses in South Africa.

Getting Started

The Introduction to Stata Basics webpage is a comprehensive resource designed to assist new and existing Stata users in mastering the software. It offers structured guidance on various aspects of using Stata, categorised into sections mirroring Stata’s capabilities: data management, graphics, data analysis, and reporting. Each section features worked examples that show command syntax, usage of common options, and interpretation of results, alongside deeper insights to ensure thorough understanding.

Key topics covered include:

• Basics: Starting with Stata, finding help, and using example datasets.
• Importing and Exporting Data: Methods to handle data from Excel, CSV, SPSS, SAS, and websites, including Federal Reserve Economic Data.
• Data Manipulation: Techniques for labelling, customising display formats, rounding data, converting data types, and creating new variables.
• Immediate Commands: Calculators for statistical tests and measures.
• Visualisation: Creating pie charts, bar charts, box plots, histograms, and scatterplots.
• Regression Modelling and Visualisation: Guidance on simple linear regression, using factor-variable notation, and exploring interactions with the `margins` and `marginsplot` commands.

Visit the Introduction to Stata Basics webpage to start learning and enhancing your Stata skills.

Stata learning resources

Learn Stata by enrolling for one of StataCorp's convenient web-based courses or find short courses offered by independent sources in your country.

Available NetCourses

• NetCourse 101: Introduction to Stata
  An introductory 6-week course that teaches how to use Stata interactively.
• NetCourse 120: Statistical Graphics Using Stata
  An introductory 6-week course that teaches Stata's statistical graphics features in the context of data analysis.
• NetCourse 151: Introduction to Stata Programming
  An introductory 6-week course that teaches Stata data-analysis programming to those who have a basic knowledge of using Stata interactively.
• NetCourse 251: Writing Your Own Stata Commands
  An advanced 7-week course that teaches how to add new commands.
• NetCourse 461: Univariate Time Series with Stata
  An introductory 7-week course that teaches the practical aspects of time series that are most needed by practitioners and applied researchers.
• NetCourse 471: Introduction to Panel Data Using Stata
  An introductory 6-week course that teaches the practical and conceptual aspects that are fundamental for practitioners and applied researchers who want to perform rigorous panel-data analysis.
• NetCourse 631: Introduction to Survival Analysis Using Stata
  An introductory 7-week course that teaches concepts such as censoring, truncation, hazard rates, and survivor functions, as well as the analysis of survival data.

For more information please visit the Stata website.

Free, short and convenient webinars to learn about Stata from the experts. Visit the webinar page on Stata’s website to see the available webinars.

Upcoming specialised webinars:

Ready. Set. Go Stata.

1 July 2026, 1:00 p.m. CDT
27 August 2026, 11:00 a.m. CDT

New to Stata? Ready to analyze your data but not sure where to start?

If you are asking yourself questions such as

• How do I get data into Stata?
• What tools are available for manipulating and cleaning data?
• How can I create and customize scatterplots, histograms, and other graphs?
• How do I fit a model and graph the results?
• How do I find resources for learning Stata?

then join us for our webinar introducing Stata. In this one-hour webinar, we will take you on a tour of Stata, show you how to answer questions like these, and show you how to go even further. Ask questions in the live offering, or get started now by watching this tutorial yourself.

Tips and tricks

14 July 2026, 11:00 a.m. CDT
22 September 2026, 11:00 a.m. CDT

Discover some of Stata's hidden (and not so hidden) gems. In our Tips and tricks webinar, we share a few of our developers' favorite features of Stata with you. We include the following tips:

• Labels three ways
• Standardizing graphs using the Graph Recorder
• So you fit a model, now what?
• Interpreting and understanding your model
• Turn interactive use into reproducible results
• Working with Word

Join us for this one-hour webinar, and learn how you can make your interactions with Stata more efficient and more effective.

Survival analysis with interval-censored data

7 July 2026, 11:00 a.m. CDT

In this free one-hour webinar, we address a common challenge in event-time data modelling: you would like to model the data, but you're unsure exactly when the events occurred. We cover:

• Types of interval-censored data and their characteristics in survival analysis
• Semiparametric Cox proportional-hazards modelling using the stintcox command
• Practical dataset structures, including both single-record and multiple-record-per-subject formats
• Time-varying covariates (TVCs) and their incorporation into models
• Results interpretation and visualisation, including plotting techniques
• Proportional hazards assumption testing for model validation
• Marginal Cox modelling for interval-censored multiple-event data
• Statistical testing for common covariate effects across different event types

The presentation showcases capabilities introduced across recent Stata versions: stintcox (Stata 17), time-varying covariate support (Stata 18), and the new stmgintcox command (Stata 19) for modelling of interval-censored multiple-event data while accounting for potential correlations between event times.

Introduction to survey statistics using Stata

28 July 2026, 11:00 a.m. CDT

This webinar covers fundamental concepts in survey methodology and practical implementation using Stata. We review the concepts of probability and nonprobability sampling and sampling with and without replacement, introduce the finite population correction factor, and examine major sampling designs.

The session focuses on calculating sample weights and demonstrates how to use Stata's svyset command to prepare data for analyses that account for the sampling design.

The webinar is presented by Chuck Huber, Director of Statistical Outreach at StataCorp.

Working with dates and times in Stata

15 September 2026, 11:00 a.m. CDT

Many analyses rely on dates. For example, you might need to calculate the time between two dates, or perhaps you plan to fit a time-series model or perform survival analysis. In this free one-hour webinar, we cover converting between the various date and time formats, working with calendar and business dates, computing time intervals, and building dates from their components. We include:

• Converting between different date and time types
• Working with standard dates versus UTC dates
• Converting across software packages
• Handling daily versus monthly dates
• Building dates and times from components
• Extracting specific date and time portions
• Customising date displays
• Using dates in expressions

The webinar is presented by Gabriela Ortiz, Senior Applied Econometrician at StataCorp.

Introduction to Stata for students

16 September 2026, 11:00 a.m. CDT

Taking a class that uses Stata but not sure where to start? In this free one-hour webinar, we take you on a tour of Stata and answer the questions students most often ask:

• How do I get data into Stata?
• What tools are available for manipulating and cleaning data?
• How can I create and customise scatterplots, histograms, and other graphs?
• How do I fit a model and graph the results?
• How do I find resources for learning Stata?

Psychometric meta-analysis in Stata

14 October 2026, 11:00 a.m. CDT

This webinar introduces meta psycorr, a new command in StataNow for psychometric meta-analysis. Psychometric meta-analysis provides a more rigorous framework than traditional meta-analysis by correcting observed correlations for statistical artefacts—including measurement error, range restriction, artificial dichotomisation, and small-study bias. We introduce the underlying theory and demonstrate a practical Stata workflow, from data preparation to creating corrected forest plots and exploring heterogeneity using Stata's integrated meta suite.

The webinar is presented by Meghan Cain, Assistant Director of Educational Services at StataCorp.

The Stata News User's corner highlights interesting, useful, or just plain fun user contributions. Visit the User’s Corner on the Stata website for complete archive of all contributions.

Stata has a large collection of video tutorials freely available from the official Stata YouTube channel.

Get started with a quick tour of Stata:

Handy reference sheets covering Stata syntax, data processing, programming, etc.

Visit https://www.stata.com/bookstore/stata-cheat-sheets to download.

Upcoming Stata training courses in South Africa

Keep an eye on our website for updates on future training courses as they become available.