{smcl} {hline} help for {cmd:prepar} {right:(Feb 4, 2010)} {hline} {title:Description} {p 0 0 2} Writes the code and data file needed to process variables in PARSCALE, {break} with the option to run PARSCALE and merge in the scores and standard errors. {p 8 17 2} {cmd:prepar} {it: varlist} {cmd:,} {cmd:ID}{it:(subject id)} {cmd:RUnname}{it:(string)} [{cmdab:MINsize(}{it:integer 20}{hi:)}{cmd:)} {cmd:SCALE(}{it:string 1.7}{hi:)} {cmd:NQpt(}{it:string 11}{hi:)} {cmd:CYcles(}{it:string 1000}{hi:)} {cmd:SCORE(}{it:string EAP}{hi:)} {cmd:PARameterfile(}{it:string}{hi:)} {cmd:SKIP(}{it:varlist}} {cmdab:ALL(}{it:integer 0}{hi:)}{cmd:)} {cmdab:CLeanup(}{it:integer 0}{hi:)}{cmd:)} ] {p 4 12 2} where: {p 8 12 2} {it:varlist} is the list of variables (items, blocks) to be included in the PARSCALE run. {p 8 12 2} {cmdab:ID} is the subject id variable. {p 8 12 2} {cmdab:runname} is the name of the PARSCALE run to be generated. code_{it:runname}.psl will be the PARSCALE input file, data_{it:runname}.txt will be the PARSCALE data file. {title:Options} {p 8 12 2} {cmdab:MINsize} is the minimum category frequency (number of observations/category). The default is 20. Categories will be combined, if possible, to meet the minsize. Any variable that does not have enough observations in at least 2 categories will be dropped. If you do not want any categories combined, specify minsize(1). {p 8 12 2} {cmdab:SCALE} changes the scale parameter from the default of 1.7. {p 0 8 2} {cmd:nqpt} - changes the number of quadrature points from a default of 11. {p 0 8 2} {cmd:cycles} - changes the maximun number of iterations in PARSCALE stage 2 from the default of 1000. {p 8 12 2} {cmdab:SCORE} Default is EAP. You can specify MLE or WML instead. {p 8 12 2} {cmdab:PARameterfile} calculates scores using an existing PARSCALE parameter file. {p 8 12 2} {cmdab:SKIP} uses the existing PARSCALE parameter file only for the variables specified here. {p 8 12 2} {cmdab:ALL} ALL(1) runs the PARSCALE code, and merges the scores and their standard errors into the original data set. {p 8 12 2} {cmdab:CLeanup} CLeanup(1) deletes the PARSCALE files when the merge is completed. CLeanup(2) deletes all but the PAR file. Only for use with the ALL option. {title:Remarks} {p 8 12 2} Drops any variable that does not have enough observations for at least 2 categories, and displays a warning message. {p 8 12 2} Warning message for variables with more than 15 levels (PARSCALE will reject). Letter codes automatically made for 2-digit values. {p 8 12 2} Allows missing values. {p 8 12 2} Allows character or numeric ID's up to 9 digits. {p 8 12 2} Creates a numeric, 10-digit ID code for PARSCALE by adding 1,000,000,000 to the ID, first converting string IDs to a unique number if needed. {p 8 8 2} Default PARSCALE CALIB instructions are: {p 12 12 2} >CALIB GRADED, LOGISTIC, SCALE=1.7, NQPT=11, CYCLES=1000, CRIT=.001 {p 12 12 2} If you want other choices, you can edit the .PSL file before running it. [Except for SCALE, CYCLES, and NQPT, which you can choose on the command line.] {p 8 12 2} The maximum number of variables is 230. {p 8 12 2} Written for Stata 8.0. {title:Examples} {p 4 8 2} prepar item1 - item13, id(id) ru(gender0) {p 4 8 2} prepar item1 - item13, id(id) ru(gender0) par(PRO) minsize(1) scale(1) score(MLE) {p 4 8 2} prepar item1 - item13, id(id) ru(gender0) par(PRO) minsize(1) skip(item1-item5) cleanup(2) {p 4 8 2} prepar item1 - item13, id(id) ru(gender0) all(1) cleanup(1) {title:Authors} {p 4 4 2} Laura Gibbons and Paul Crane. University of Washington, Copyright 2005-2010. Email: {browse "mailto:":gibbonsl@u.washington.edu}{break} We appreciate the assistance of Tom Koepsell and Rich Jones. {title:Also see} {p 4 4 2} {cmd:difwithpar} and {cmd:runparscale}.