IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/lunewp/2024_004.html

Power Analysis Through Simulations in STATA: A Step-by-Step Guide

Author

Listed:
  • Campos-Mercade, Pol

    (Department of Economics, Lund University)

Abstract

You want to run an experiment where you anticipate finding a treatment effect. How large should your sample size be to have a reasonable chance of detecting significant results? In this manuscript, I present and explain the Stata code I use to address this question. The code uses simulations to conduct power analyses, offering a flexible alternative to the commonly used analytical tools. Unlike traditional methods, this approach can accommodate any experimental design and statistical test that Stata supports. The code is straightforward, user-friendly, and can be used effectively with minimal coding experience.

Suggested Citation

  • Campos-Mercade, Pol, 2024. "Power Analysis Through Simulations in STATA: A Step-by-Step Guide," Working Papers 2024:4, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2024_004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://lucris.lub.lu.se/ws/portalfiles/portal/194368172/WP24_4
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joerg Luedicke, 2013. "powersim: simulation-based power analysis for linear and generalized linear models," 2013 Stata Conference 13, Stata Users Group.
    2. A. H. Feiveson, 2002. "Power by simulation," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 2(2), pages 107-124, May.
    3. Charles Bellemare & Luc Bissonnette & Sabine Kröger, 2016. "Simulating power of economic experiments: the powerBBK package," Journal of the Economic Science Association, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 2(2), pages 157-168, November.
    4. John List & Sally Sadoff & Mathis Wagner, 2011. "So you want to run an experiment, now what? Some simple rules of thumb for optimal experimental design," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 14(4), pages 439-457, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Eszter Czibor & David Jimenez‐Gomez & John A. List, 2019. "The Dozen Things Experimental Economists Should Do (More of)," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 86(2), pages 371-432, October.
    2. Leah H. Palm-Forster & Paul J. Ferraro & Nicholas Janusch & Christian A. Vossler & Kent D. Messer, 2019. "Behavioral and Experimental Agri-Environmental Research: Methodological Challenges, Literature Gaps, and Recommendations," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 73(3), pages 719-742, July.
    3. Maurizio Canavari & Andreas C. Drichoutis & Jayson L. Lusk & Rodolfo M. Nayga, Jr., 2018. "How to run an experimental auction: A review of recent advances," Working Papers 2018-5, Agricultural University of Athens, Department Of Agricultural Economics.
    4. Cloos, Janis & Greiff, Matthias & Rusch, Hannes, 2021. "Editorial favoritism in the field of laboratory experimental economics (RM/20/014-revised-)," Research Memorandum 005, Maastricht University, Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE).
    5. Kathryn N. Vasilaky & J. Michelle Brock, 2020. "Power(ful) guidelines for experimental economists," Journal of the Economic Science Association, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 6(2), pages 189-212, December.
    6. Brendon McConnell & Marcos Vera-Hernandez, 2015. "Going beyond simple sample size calculations: a practitioner's guide," IFS Working Papers W15/17, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    7. Charles Bellemare & Luc Bissonnette & Sabine Kröger, 2014. "Statistical Power of Within and Between-Subjects Designs in Economic Experiments," CESifo Working Paper Series 5055, CESifo.
    8. Sebastian Jobjörnsson & Henning Schaak & Oliver Musshoff & Tim Friede, 2023. "Improving the statistical power of economic experiments using adaptive designs," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 26(2), pages 357-382, April.
    9. Czibor, Eszter & Onderstal, Sander & Sloof, Randolph & van Praag, C. Mirjam, 2020. "Does relative grading help male students? Evidence from a field experiment in the classroom," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    10. Theodor Vladasel & Simon C. Parker & Randolph Sloof & Mirjam van Praag, 2024. "Revenue drift, incentives, and effort allocation in social enterprises," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 630-651, August.
    11. Cloos, Janis & Greiff, Matthias & Rusch, Hannes, 2023. "Editorial favoritism in the field of laboratory experimental economics," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    12. Pedro Carneiro & Sokbae Lee & Daniel Wilhelm, 2020. "Optimal data collection for randomized control trials," The Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 23(1), pages 1-31.
    13. Theresa Wimberley & Erik Parner & Henrik Støvring, 2013. "Stata as a numerical tool for scientific thought experiments: A tutorial with worked examples," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 13(1), pages 3-20, March.
    14. Cloos, Janis & Greiff, Matthias & Rusch, Hannes, 2020. "Geographical Concentration and Editorial Favoritism within the Field of Laboratory Experimental Economics (RM/19/029-revised-)," Research Memorandum 014, Maastricht University, Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE).
    15. Heggedal, Tom-Reiel & Helland, Leif & Neset Joslin, Knut-Eric, 2018. "Should I Stay or should I Go? Bandwagons in the lab," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 86-97.
    16. Grüner Sven, 2020. "Sample Size Calculation in Economic Experiments," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 240(6), pages 791-823, December.
    17. Keller, Elena & Ortmann, Andreas & Chambers, Georgina Mary, 2024. "Exploring the demand for elective egg freezing: A laboratory experiment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    18. Omar Al-Ubaydli & John List, 2013. "On the Generalizability of Experimental Results in Economics: With A Response To Camerer," Artefactual Field Experiments j0001, The Field Experiments Website.
    19. Eric Floyd & John A. List, 2016. "Using Field Experiments in Accounting and Finance," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 54(2), pages 437-475, May.
    20. Aristotelis Epanomeritakis & Davide Viviano, 2025. "Learning What to Learn: Experimental Design when Combining Experimental with Observational Evidence," Papers 2510.23434, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2025.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • C15 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Statistical Simulation Methods: General
    • C90 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2024_004. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Iker Arregui Alegria (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/delunse.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.