New User Urgently Needs Help

[pegarcia]

Hi Everyone,

I am using Eviews 7.1. My professor has mandated that we use this softare for a particular course - this is my first time ever using this software.

I am in need of a resource (either on this forum or perhaps a book I can purchase) that I can use as a reference for performing basic functions (like simple forecasts, summary stats like regression line errors, simple charts.

Unfortunately, the included documentation is absolutely terrible. This is probably the worst I've even seen for anything - even MS Office help is stunning effective by comparison. Having to read all the way through to chapter 6 of the manual to learn how to key in a small data set - seriously?

Can anyone help?

[EViews Gareth]

Most people find it pretty intuitive and don't require documentation unless programming, or performing some of the more complicated data manipulations available. However, you might find EViews Illustrated useful. It is available for purchase directly from IHS EViews.

[EViews Glenn]

The first three chapters of Illustrated are available for download

http://eviews.com/illustrated/illustrated.html

[pegarcia]

Most people find it pretty intuitive and don't require documentation unless programming, or performing some of the more complicated data manipulations available. However, you might find EViews Illustrated useful. It is available for purchase directly from IHS EViews.

Hmmm, interesting. I had to read for hours just to figure out how to manually key in data. I should add that I am really, really good in Excel and decent with a number of software packages, so it's not like I'm computer illiterate.

[pegarcia]

The first three chapters of Illustrated are available for download

http://eviews.com/illustrated/illustrated.html

I'll try that next. Reading the manuals is too onerous and playing around with the software did not help.

[EViews Glenn]

I'm sorry you feel that way.

For future reference in case anyone stumbles upon this thread, the manuals aren't really meant to be read cover-to-cover as in a book. As we say [several times] in the docs, you shouldn't feel as though you have to read the manuals closely; instead we recommend that you skim the first few chapters to get a feel for the basic concepts, then return later as needed.

The easiest way to find what you seem to have wanted would be to go to the Help or PDF files and do a search, or to look in the index of the manual. If I go to the Index of the User's Guide I and look up "Data", I find that "Data:enter from keyboard" is on page 101. Page 101 has a discussion which walks you step-by-step through data entry (with annotated screen shots).I can find the same material by going to the help system and going to the Index tab, and entering "data".

In addition, the introductory material in Part I: Fundamentals on p. 3 points you to Chapter 5 where "...[w]e desscribe methods of getting your data into EViews...". I'll note that this page offers a roadmap for the first few chapters, showing you where relevant material is located.

I also want to note that the Demo in the manual (Chapter 2) walks the user through importing data from an Excel spreadsheet by drag-and-dropping the file onto EViews and then shows how to do some simple analysis. Earlier versions had info about keying in data at that point but we found that people generally had data in a text or Excel or similar file and were eager to skip over keyboard entry.

Lastly, I'll mention that the first few chapters introduce you to things like the EViews workfile, command window, and most importantly, the basics of objects, all of which are really necessary for you to work with your data. Our view is that you really can't import or enter data into EViews until you understand where you are putting the data you import or enter. Simple, but fundamental things like understanding the EViews context sensitive menus require basic introduction.

Hope this helps you get going. Feel free to ask questions in the forum if you get stuck.