Introduction to Data Management Using Econometric Views (E-Views) Computer Software for Students of Social and Management Sciences

Introduction to Data Management Using Econometric Views (E-Views) Computer Software for Students of Social and Management Sciences By Mustapha Muktar, PhD Department of Economics Bayero University, Kano-Nigeria mmukhtar.eco@buk.edu.ng and muktaronline@gmail.com http//:www.mustaphamuktar.blogspot.com Introduction There are several software or packages for undertaking rigorous analysis. These include the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), PC GIVE, MICROFIT, STATA and E- VIEWS as major and commonly known ones. The focus here is on E-Views. E- Views provide sophisticated data management and analysis tools on window based computers. With E- Views one can easily develope a statistical relation from a set of data and then use the relation to forecast future values and perform other functions. E- Views have been found useful in the following areas; 1. Scientific Data Analysis and evaluation 2. Financial analysis 3. Macroeconomic Forecasting 4. Sales Forecasting 5. Cost Analysis 6. Profitability Analysis and etc. E- Views is a new version of set of tools for manipulating a set of data developed especially on time series and cross section basis. E- Views have a convenient visual way to enter data series from the key board or from disk files, to create new series from existing ones, to display and print series, and to carry out statistical analysis of the relationship among series. This is made possible as it uses the visual features of Morden windows software. One can therefore use the mouse to guide the operation with standard windows, menus and dialogs. Results appear on windows and can be manipulated with standard windows techniques. Alternatively, one may use E- Views command and batch processing language. Commands can be entered and edited in the command window, one can also create and store the commands in programs that documents information for later execution. E- Views Screen Upon starting E- views the main screen will be presented, it consists of the top menu, command window, middle work area and the lower status bar; The Main Menu File: Basic file operations Edit: Basic editing operations Objects: Commands for creating and manipulating E-views objects View: Viewing options Process: Import and exporting data; sample options Quick: Shortcuts to many E- views operations Options: Set program options Window: Switch between windows Help: Online help system Note: further Details about each of the above items can be found in the help/menu items The command window The command window is the empty area with white background immediately below the main menu. This is where E- Views command is entered. The command typed, is executed immediately the enter key is pushed; this window supports cut and paste which enables the movement of text between the command window. The work area This is the area in the middle of the window where various objects are displayed. If many windows are open, they will overlap each other with the foremost window being in focus or active. A window can be moved by clicking on its title bar and dragging it to a new location. Status line This is divided into several sections. The left section will sometimes contain status messages sent by E- Views. The next section shows the default directory that E views uses to look for data and programs. The last section displays the name of the default database and work file. Help system Since it is window based software, it is user friendly. But in cases of operational problems or difficulties, the help system is always handy to provide useful assistance. To access the help, simply go to the main menu and select HELP and the help topic will appear from there one can search and digest it. The Work File To start any work in E- Views one must create or load a work file. Work file organize and contain the objects that are used in analysis. To create a new work file, use the FILE/NEW/WORKFILE command. This brings up a dialog box where you describe the type of data you will be working with. It allows you to work with time series data, as well as cross sectional data. Date formats Annual example 1999 – 2009, Quarterly example 2000:1 – 2006:4, Monthly 1990:1 – 1990:12 for weekly the week is identified by the first day of the week example 3:10:98 is March 10, 1998. And for the undated observations the start and end observations are applicable. The work file just opened is empty except for two default objects labelled c and resid these are the constant and error terms usually associated with modelling. One may wish to effect a change in the sample period by double clicking on sample command to change it. Saving Work file The work file remains untitled, it can be given title and saved either by clicking save button on the work file tool bar or by choosing File/save from the main menu as below; Importing Data E- Views can easily import excel data the data is organized in rows and columns. Before importing data a work file must have been created. The procedures for creating work file are; Step 1: Click File/New/Work file Step 2: Choose the right frequency for your data (for example annual or monthly) and impute the start date and end date and click OK Step 3: data can now be imported from an external source by clicking file/import/, and choosing the Read-Text-Lotus-Excel... Option; At this stage, the file from which you want to import data is selected and the open button is clicked as below; Entering data from the keyboard As an alternative to importing data, data can also be entered directly into a work file from the keyboard. To do so, a series object needs to be created and then data is entered using the e-views editor. The following steps are required; Step 1: File/New /Work file Step 2: Choose the start and end date Step 3: Select Objects/New objects from the main menu as below; By clicking the ENTER button the new object dialog box is displayed, then the type of object which one needs has to be selected and a title given as well. The empty series will be added to the work file as below; Step 4: To enter data into the series do the following; Double click on the GDP to open the spread sheet view (NA sequences are seen) Click the (Edit +/-) to activate the edit mode Click on the first data cell Enter the data for that cell and press ENTER. Or copy and paste from another source After entering the data press the (Edit +/-) mode to de-activate edit mode and then click the close box. Data Transformation New data sets or variables can be generated from the set of initial data sets or variables. To do this, choose GENR from the work file main menu and the dialog box open as below; The formula for generating new series/variable can be typed in the enter equation space in the dialog box and click OK for example suppose we generate the grow rate of GDP which we call ggdp, the formula is typed as ggdp = (gdp-gdp(-1)/gdp(-1)*100 and then click OK. If we want generate the logarithm of gdp as LGDP, then we type LGDP = log GDP and press OK. Statistical Computations on E- Views Statistical measures are important in data analysis and drawing conclusions. Measures such as descriptive statistics (mean, median, maximum, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis etc) are very important in data analysis, so also measures of association such as the correlation and regression analysis are crucial in in-depth studies and monitoring/evaluation as well as impact studies. Procedure for Carrying out Statistical Analysis on E-Views The approach for doing this is very interactive using E-Views. To perform statistical analysis such as descriptive statistics (mean median, maximum, standard deviation, skewness etc) on E-Views, one needs to create a work file and enter the data as well. Graphs To represent information on a graph, first one has to generate series, open the QUICK window and select graph then one will be prompted to list the series after listing/selecting it then the OK button is pressed, from there options will be selected of the type of graph as either line scatter, pie chart etc. Descriptive Statistics To compute descriptive statistics, first one has to generate series, open the QUICK window and select SERIES STATISTICS-HISTOGRAM AND STATS then one will be prompted to list the series after listing/selecting it then the OK button is pressed, from there the descriptive statistics will be displayed; After getting the basic descriptive statistics one can obtain a wide range of parameters by clicking on VIEW in the dialog box these include but not limited to bar graph and one-way tabulation and others as below; Correlation Coefficient Correlations are computed between two or more variables to ascertain their co-variability for policy making analysis. To compute the correlation between say GDP and FDI. Go to QUICK –GROUP STATISTICS-CORRELATIONS, then a dialog box will be opened where one will be prompted to list series, groups and/or series expressions: from there the variables that are to be correlated are listed separated by space, and OK is pressed as below; It should be noted that by clicking on VIEW a combined range of measures like N-Way tabulation descriptive statistics, Chi square, Pearson coefficient and so on can be ascertained