Research data analysis is fundamental to evidence-based policymaking in Bangladesh. Whether you’re working with household surveys from BBS, HIES data, or field surveys from organizations like BIGD or BRAC, moving from raw data to meaningful insights requires the right tools and approach.

Why Statistical Software Matters

Excel works for small datasets, but most research in Bangladesh involves large-scale surveys. The Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) alone contains over 45,000 households. Statistical software like STATA and R can handle this efficiently while ensuring your analysis is reproducible.

Key benefits include:

  • Reproducibility: Your analysis can be verified and replicated
  • Scale: Handle millions of observations without slowdown
  • Documentation: Code serves as a record of your methodology
  • Advanced methods: Access to econometric techniques beyond basic Excel

Getting Started with STATA

STATA is widely used in development research in Bangladesh. Here’s how to start exploring survey data:

* Set working directory
cd "C:/Research/HIES_Data"

* Load dataset
use "hies_2022.dta", clear

* Explore the data structure
describe
codebook division

* Generate summary statistics
summarize monthly_income monthly_expenditure, detail

* Calculate poverty indicators
gen poverty_line = 2268
gen poor = (monthly_expenditure < poverty_line)
tab division poor, row

Getting Started with R

R is free and increasingly popular in Bangladesh research institutions:

# Load packages
library(tidyverse)
library(haven)
library(survey)

# Import STATA file
hies <- read_dta("hies_2022.dta")

# Explore the data
glimpse(hies)

# Summary by division
hies %>%
  group_by(division) %>%
  summarise(
    mean_income = mean(monthly_income, na.rm = TRUE),
    median_income = median(monthly_income, na.rm = TRUE),
    n = n()
  )

Best Practices

  1. Keep raw data intact - Never modify original files
  2. Comment your code - Explain the ‘why’ not just the ‘what’
  3. Use version control - Save analysis scripts with dates
  4. Validate your results - Cross-check with published statistics

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and World Bank provide excellent reference data for validation. Start small, practice regularly, and gradually take on more complex analyses.